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MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

AND    TRAVELS 


BY 

ADMIRAL  OF  THE   FLEET 

THE  RIGHT  HON.   SIR  EDWARD  H.  SEYMOUR 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 

31   WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET 

1911 


Let  decision  and  execution  be  the  same,  and  though  success 
may  not  always  follow,  defeat  is  oft  times  left  behind." 


4y 


je? 


DEDICATION 

TO   THE    MEMORY    OY    MY    UNCLE 

SIR   MICHAEL   SEYMOUR,    G.C.B. 

VICE-ADMIRAL  OF  THE   UNITED  KINGDOM 

WHOSE   EMINENT    SERVICES    IN    CHINA    FROM    1856    TO    1S59 

WERE   HIGHLY    APPRECIATED    BY    THE     MERCANTILE     COMMUNITY 

THERE,    AND    BY   HIS    BROTHER    OFFICERS    IN    THE   NAVY 


^^ 


b^ 


PREFACE 

Probably  no  one  can  write  his  Memoirs 
without  being  open  to  the  charge  of  egotism.  If 
so  I  shall  attempt  no  defence,  being  satisfied  with 
the  reasons  that  led  me  to  do  it,  and  feeling 
that  as  a  memoirist  I  am  at  least  in  some  good 
company. 

My  hope  is  to  be  read  by  young  naval  officers, 
who  may  be  interested  to  see  the  changes  in  what 
is  probably  the  finest  profession  in  the  world — viz. 
the  British  Navy. 

I  have  tried  to  avoid  all  mention  of  my  private 
life;  because  however  interesting  to  myself,  I 
cannot  suppose  it  would  be  so  to  others. 

E.  H.  SEYMOUR, 

Queen  Anne's  Mansions, 
St.  James's  Park, 

London,  S.W. 
April  1911. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

H.M.S.   ENCOUNTER 

PACES 

Entering  the  Navy — H.M.S.  Encounter  ....     1-7 
CHAPTER  II 

H.M.S.    TERRIBLE 

Naval  Revievi^ — Sir  Edmund  Lyons — Sinope — Odessa — 
Ship  grounding — Russian  Steamer — Wreck  of  Tiger — Off 
Sevastopol — The  Cholera    .......   8-18 

CHAPTER   HI 

H.M.S.   TERRIBLE   (continued) 

Expedition  to  the  Crimea — Battle  of  the  Alma — Siege 
begins  17th  October — Bombardment  of  Sevastopol     .  ig-28 

CHAPTER  IV 

H.M.S.   TERRIBLE   (continued) 

Fourteenth  November  Gale  of  Wind — Off  Sevastopol — 
The  Commanders — Night  Attack — Kertch — The  Trenches 
— The  Siege — Fall  of  Sevastopol — Kinburn .         .         .  29-45 

CHAPTER  V 

H.M.S.   CRUIZER 

Age  Retirement — Voyage  to  China — Gunboats        .  46-51 

ix 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  VI 

H.M.S.    CALCUTTA 

PACES 

The  Arrow  Lorcha  War  at  Canton — Fatshan  Creek 
Action— Capture  of  Canton— Viceroy  Ych— Move  to  the 
Nortli — Capture  of  Taku  Forts — Tiensin     .         .         .  52-<)8 

CHAPTER  Vn 

H.M.S.   PIQUE,   MERSEY,   AND   IMPERIEUSE 

The  Pi^w^— Long  China  Sea  Passage — Gale  of  Wind — 
The  Mersey — I  pass  for  Rank  of  Lieutenant — A  Smart  Ship 
— The  Imperieuse — Passage  to  China  by  Great  Circle  Track   69-85 

CHAPTER  VI H 

H.M.S.    CHESAPEAKE,   COWPER,   AND    WATERMAN 

The  Chesapeake — Tah-lien-wan  Bay — Port  Arthur — 
An  Execution — Taku  Forts  taken — Tiensin — Nagasaki — 
The  Cowper — The  Yang-tse  River — Nankin — The  Water- 
man— Canton  River  —  Pagodas  —  The  'Cat' — Evacuation 
of  Canton  .........         86-100 

CHAPTER  IX 

H.M.S.    SPHINX   AND   IMPERIEUSE 

Wreck  of  the  Noma — Pelew  Islands — Caroline  Islands 
— Mariana  Islands — Shanghai — Taiping  Rebels — Ward's 
Contingent — Ship  on  Fire — Loss  of  a  Gun — Naval  Brigade 
— Singpoo — Kahding  taken — Cholera — Gordon  (Pacha)     101-114 

CHAPTER  X 

FLAG-LIEUTENANT 

Old  Portsmouth — Channel  Islands — Pirate  Story — Anec- 
dote of  Nelson — Garibaldi — Lady  Smith — Royal  Yacht — 
French  Fleet — Gale  of  Wind    .....  1 15-125 

CHAPTER  XI 

THE   MAZINTHIEN 

Wolfrock — Peterhead — Young  Surgeons — Sailing  North 
— Whales — Seals — Walrus — Bears — Arctic  Interests — Sir 
John  Franklin — Festivity  ......       126-140 

X 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XII 

THE   COASTGUARD 

PAcrs 

Queenstown — Coastguard  Cutters — Plymouth         .     1 41-145 

CHAPTER  XIII 

H.M.S.   GROWLER 

'Bugtrap' — Sierra  Leone — Kroomen — A  Wreck — Bight  of 
Benin  —  Dogs  —  Fernando  Po  —  African  Kings  —  Rivers  — 
Slavers — Fight  with  Congo  Pirates — Ascension  Island       146-163 

CHAPTER  XIV 

COMMANDER— H.M.S.   L/FELY— CAPTAIN 

Lausanne — H.M.S.  Vigilant — H.M.S.  Lively — ^North  of 
Spain — Channel  Fleet — Story  of  H.M.S.  Amazon — Promo- 
tion— Long  Half  Pay — Officers'  Lists — Greenwich  R.N. 
College — France — Italy      ......       164-175 

CHAPTER  XV 

H.M.S.   ORONTES 

Lord  Lytton — Bombay — Irish  Mihtia — Ceylon — Singa- 
pore— Mauritius — Natal — The  Cape — South  African  Ports — 
Bad  Harbours — Wreck  of  Eurydice — Occupation  of  Cyprus 
— A  Derelict — Bermuda — Halifax — Barbados — Trinidad — 
Jamaica — rAwwrferer  Explosion .         ....       176-197 

CHAPTER  XVI 

CAPTAIN 

Torpedo  Course — Law  Courts — Touraine — Winter  in 
France       198-203 

CHAPTER  XVII 

H.M.S.  IRIS 

Loss  of  Atalanta  —  Trial  Cruise  —  Palermo — Russian 
Torpedo  Boat  —  Messina  —  Adriatic  —  Ionian  Islands  — 
Olympia — Pacstum — Egypt — Trieste — Tunis — French  Ships 
— Syria — Roustem    Pasha    and    the    Bear— 1882    War    in 

Egypt 204-224 

xi 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XVIII 

H.M.S.   INFLEXIBLE 

FACES 

Effect  of  a  Shell— Torpedoes— Strike  a  Rock— Lord 
Alccstcr— Ball's  Monument— Summer  Cruise — Exercises — 
Austrian  Horses— Venice— Loretto — Navarino — Delphi — 
SaJonica—Thasos— Mount  Athos — Odd  After-glow — Candia 
— Cyprus— Nelson  Island — Ephesus  ....       225-241 

CHAPTER  XIX 

CAPTAIN— H.M.S.   O^ECOA'— CAPTAIN 

Trial  of  tlic  Oregon  —  Manoeuvres  —  Admiralty  Com- 
mittee              242-248 

CHAPTER  XX 

FLAG-CAPTAIN— NAVAL   RESERVES 

The  old  Viclory  —  The  Queen's  Jubilee  —  Naval 
MancEuvrcs — Submarine  Boat — Earl  St.  Vincent — Ports- 
moutli — Naval  Reserves — Coastguard  —  Heligoland  —  The 
Hearty  and  her  Cat — Coal  Pit — The  Forth  Bridge — 
Stornoway — Shetland         ......       249-259 

CHAPTER  XXI 

REAR-ADMIRAL 

France  —  Russia  —  Caspian  Sea  —  Caucasus  —  Taganrog 
— Sevastopol — Odessa  .....       260—272 


CHAPTER  XXII 

REAR-ADMIRAL  (continued) 

Channel  Squadron  —  Pilgrims  —  United  States  —  Mail 
Steamer — Naval  Manoeuvres — France        .         .         .       273-281 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

REAR-ADMIRAL  (continued) 

West  India  Islands — Training  Squadron — Jamaica — 
Shark  Story— Panama  Canal— North  Pacific  Mail  Steamer 
— San     Francisco — California — Canada — Canary     Islands — 

Emigrant  Story 282-294 

xii 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XXIV 

SECOND   IN   COMMAND  CHANNEL  SQUADRON 

FACES 

H.M.S.  Swiftsure — Manoeuvres — H.M.S.  Anson — Ferrol 
— Salving  H.M.S.  Howe — Spaniards — Serpent's  Cemetery — 
Ferrol  Ball — H.M.S.  Empress  of  India — Winter  Cruise      295-309 

CHAPTER  XXV 

SECOND   IN  COMMAND   CHANNEL   SQUADRON  (continued) 

A  Duel  at  Gibraltar — Madeira — Canary  Islands — Vigo 
Treasure  Ships — Ceuta         ......     310-314 

CHAPTER  XXVI 

ADMIRAL-SUPERINTENDENT  OF   NAVAL   RESERVES 

The  Naval  Reserves  and  Coastguard — Naval  Manoeuvres 
— Coastguard's  Duties — Eagle  Island  ,         .         .     315-319 

CHAPTER  XXVII 

CHINA  COMMAND 

Chusan  Island — Occupation  of  Wei-hai-wei — Nagasaki 
— Hankow — Nankin — Hong-Kong  —  Manilla  —  Formosa  — 
Corea 320-328 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

CHINA  COMMAND  (continued) 

H.M.S.  Bonaventure  grounding  —  Vladivostok  — 
Russian  Tartary — Convict  Prison — Japan — The  Yang-tse 
Rapids 329-335 

CHAPTER  XXIX 

CHINA  COMMAND  (continued) 
H.R.H.  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia — Siam — Borneo   .     336-340 

CHAPTER  XXX 

CHINA  COMMAND  (continued) 

The  Boxer  Rising — Our  Preparations — Our  Expedition 
starts — Tiensin — Lang-fang — Desert  Trains — Taku  Forts 
— Peitsang — Ilsiku  Arsenal        .....       341-354 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XXXI 

CHINA   COMMAND  (continued) 


PAGE* 


Defence   of    the  Ticnsin   Settlements — Capture   of    the 
Chinese  Arsenals — General  Fukusima         .         .         .       SSS-S'J^ 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

CHINA  COMMAND  (continued) 

ShaoRhai — The  Yang-tse — Pekin  relieved — Shan-hai- 
quan — Chen-wang-tao — The  Pier       ....       363-368 

CHAPTER  XXXIII 

CHINA  COMMAND  (continued) 

The  Yang-tse — Death  of  H.M.  Queen  Victoria — Hong- 
Kong —  Ticnsin  —  Pekin  —  The  Forbidden  City  —  New- 
chwang — Nankin — Wci-hai-wei — Relieved  in  Command — 
Arrive  home 369-376 

CHAPTER  XXXIV 

ADMIRAL  ; 

The  King's  Telegram — Decorations — Portsmouth  Ban- 
quet—Royal Visit  to  Devonport— With  H.R.H.  Duke  of 
Cormaught  to  Madrid — Order  of  Merit — The  Coronation  377-382 

CHAPTER  XXXV 

PLYMOUTH   COMMAND 

House  Book — Cambridge  Degree  of  LL.D. — Visit  of 
T.R.H.  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales  to  Devonport — 
German  Squadron's  Visit — Three  Admirals — Promoted  to 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet 383-386 

CHAPTER  XXXVI 

ADMIRAL   OF  THE   FLEET 

Remarks  on  Title  and  Flag  of  Admiral  of  the  Fleet — 
With  H.R.H.  Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught  to  BerUn — 
Trafalgar  Fdte  at  Boston — Southern  States — Go  with 
Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught  to  Japan         .         .         .       387-394 

xiv 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XXXVII 

ADMIRAL   OF  THE   FLEET  (continued) 

PAGES 

Leave  Japan — Cross  the  Pacific —  Vancouver's  Island — 
Canada — Indians — Niagara — Quebec  .         .         .       395-400 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

H.M.S.  INFLEXIBLE  AND   NEW   YORK 

Hoist  Flag  in  Inflexible — ^Hudson-Fulton  Celebrations 
at  New  York  —  Processions  —  Banquets  —  West  Point 
Academy — Return — Retirement        ....       401-407 

CHAPTER  XXXIX 

ENVOI 

China  and  Japan — Importance  of  our  Navy — Steam- 
ships— Armour-clads — Turret  Ships — Navy  in  1844 — Naval 
Changes — Knowledge  required — Engineers — Modern  Per- 
sonnel— Marines — Navy's  Duties — Coastguard — Size  of 
Ships — Conclusion 408-422 

INDEX 423-429 


XV 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


ADMIRAL  OF  THE  FLEET  THE  RT.  HON.  SIR  EDWARD 

H.  SEYMOUR,  G.C.B.,  O.M.,  etc.        .         .         .         Frontispiece 
From  a  Photograph  by  EllioU  &  Fry. 

TO  FACE  PACB 

BOMBARDMENT     OF     ODESSA,     BEING     THE      FIRST 

ACTION   IN  THE  CRIMEAN  WAR,  1854  .         .         .         .12 

THE  AUTHOR 38 

From  a  daguerreotype  taken  at  Constuntinople  in  1855. 

THE   FIRST  CAPTURE  OF   THE  TAKU  FORTS,  1858        .       64 

H.M.S.  PIQUE,  FORTY-GUN  SAILING  FRIGATE,  1858         .       76 

H.M.S.  OREGON,  THE  FIRST  ATLANTIC  LINER  COM- 
MISSIONED AS  A  MAN-OF-WAR,  1885     .         .         .         .     242 

H.M.S.  HOWE  SALVED  AFTER  148  DAYS  ON  THE  ROCKS 

AT  FERROL,  1 892-1 893 302 

H.M.S.  CENTURION,  MY  FLAGSHIP  IN  CHINA,  1898-1901     354 

H.M.S.  INFLEXIBLE,  THE  FIRST  STEAM  MAN-OF-WAR 
TO  CARRY  THE  FLAG  OF  AN  ADMIRAL  OF  THE 
FLEET,  1909 402 


xvi 


r 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

AND    TRAVELS 
CHAPTER  I 

H.M.S.  ENCOUNTER 

Entering  the  Navy — H.M.S.  Encounter. 

Probably  no  one  profession  in  England  has  given 
so  man}^  of  its  sons  to  serve  the  State  as  what 
is  commonly  called  '  The  Church.' 

My  father  was  a  clergyman,  Rector  of  Kin- 
warton,  Warwickshire,  and  Canon  of  Worcester 
Cathedral. 

I  was  born  at  Kinwarton  in  April  1840,  and  as 
soon  as  I  had  sense  enough  to  form  a  real  wish  it 
was  to  go  to  sea — a  choice  I  have  never  regretted. 

On  nth  November  1852  I  entered  H.M.  Navy. 

The  procedure  then  was  very  different  from 
what  it  is  now.  The  age  for  entry  was  12  to  14, 
the  examination  was  held  in  the  old  Naval  College 
at  Portsmouth,  and  lasted  only  one  day ;  it  con- 
sisted of  arithmetic,  including  the  'rule  of  three,' 
no  fractions,  and  dictation  of  twenty  lines  from 
the  Spectator  :    three    spelling    mistakes    turned 


MY    NAVAL   CAREFR 

the  candidate  back  for  good,  no  second  trial 
being   allowed. 

In  September  1852  (the  month  and  year  the 
great  Duke  of  Wellington  died),  I,  being  at  school 
at  Radlcy,  got  the  offer  of  a  nomination  as  naval 
cadet  in  H.M.S.  Encounter  just  commissioned.  I 
accepted,  and  was  sent  to  a  '  crammer '  in 
Britain  Street,  Portsea. 

Our  preceptor  there  was  Mr.  Eastman,  a 
retired  naval  instructor,  his  house  only  held  about 
ten  lodgers,  and  the  rest,  I  for  one,  were  billeted 
about  St.  George's  Square. 

We  had  no  facilities  for  games,  and  had  to  pass 
our  leisure  time  as  we  could.  My  chief  recollec- 
tion is  an  arranged  fight  between  myself  and 
another  boy  named  Herbert  in  the  small  back 
yard.  We  were  separated  by  our  master's  wife 
armed  with  a  broom,  and  my  opponent,  a  most 
promising  young  officer,  was  killed  at  the  attack 
on  the  Peiho  forts  in  1859. 

On  loth  November  I  went  through  my  exam- 
ination at  the  old  Naval  College,  and  next  day 
received  my  passing  certificate  and  an  order  to 
join  my  ship  at  Spithead,  which  I  did  on  12th 
November. 

The  Encounter  was  a  screw  corvette,  full  ship 
rigged,  carndng  fourteen  32-pounder  guns,  and  able 
to  steam  g  to  10  knots  at  best,  a  fairly  high  speed 
in  those  days.  Her  complement  was  180  officers 
and  men,  and  I  was  the  only  naval  cadet  on  board. 

Naval  officers  will  appreciate  how  different 
the  signal  service  of  the  Navy  was  then,  when  I 
say  that  on  arriving  on  board  the  first  thing  the 

2 


EARLY  EXPERIENCES 

First  Lieutenant  said  to  me  was,  '  You  will  take 
charge  of  the  signals  of  this  ship,'  of  which  I,  of 
course,  knew  nothing. 

The  signal  staff  consisted  of  myself  aged  12J, 
and  a  first  class  boy  aged  about  16,  no  signal  man 
being  allowed  to  the  ship,  nor  were  spy  glasses 
of  any  sort  allowed  by  the  service,  but  had  to  be 
purchased  at  the  officers'  private  expense. 

The  Encounter  was  on  '  particular  service ' 
in  home  waters  ;  the  first  time  I  went  to  sea  was 
on  a  trip  to  Queenstown  and  back  directly  after 
I  joined.  We  fell  into  a  south-west  gale  and  had  to 
put  in  both  to  Torbay  and  to  Falmouth  for  shelter  ; 
the  ship  rolled  quickly  and  heavily,  but  curiously 
enough,  though  I  was  often  sea-sick  afterwards, 
the  excitement  of  my  first  voyage  prevented  my 
being  so  then. 

We  went  to  bring  back  the  navigating  crew 
of  the  Ajax,  and  on  our  return  the  midshipmen's 
berth  was  well  filled,  and  I  had  my  first  experience 
of  a  cheerful  musical  evening,  enlivened  by  grog 
and  by  some  songs  by  a  jovial  old  second  master, 
which  do  not  all  bear  repeating. 

Perhaps  I  should  here  sa}^  that  a  '  second 
master  '  was  of  the  same  rank  as  a  then  '  mate  ' 
(now  sub-lieutenant)  and  was  the  same  inter- 
mediate step  between  master  assistant  and  master 
that  a  mate  then  was  between  midshipman  and 
lieutenant. 

Our  First  Lieutenant  was  Roderick  Dew,  a  man 
full  of  energy  and  life,  with  a  sense  of  humour 
often  displayed,  and  with  a  command  of  strong 
language  rarely  equalled. 


MY    NAVAL   CAREER 

No  greater  change  has  come  in  the  service  than 
the  cessation  of  swearing  at  the  men.  In  the 
'fifties  no  exercise  aloft  ever  went  on  without 
it  in  most  shii)s  ;  and  many  officers  would  have 
thought  a  youngster  wanting  in  zeal  who  never 
accentuated  his  orders  and  appeals  to  the  men. 
Indeed  in  those  days  many  officers  might  well 
have  kept  in  mind  the   third  verse  of  the  141st 

Psalm. 

In  those  days  the  chief  things  required  in  a 
man-of-war  were  smart  men  aloft,  cleanliness 
of  the  ship,  her  hammocks,  and  her  boats.  Her 
gunner>'  was  quite  a  secondary  thing.  I  have 
heard  very  good  officers  of  that  date  say  that 
if  a  ship's  boats  and  hammocks  were  in  first- 
rate  order  you  might  depend  that  all  was  well 
with  her. 

Target  practice  in  those  days  was  carried 
out  as  follows.  The  ship  was  anchored,  and  the 
target,  often  a  cask  with  a  flag  on  it,  was  laid 
out  and  moored  at  exactly  so  many  yards  from 
the  ship,  measured  by  sextant  angle  of  her  mast- 
head from  the  boat  with  the  target,  probably 
at  about  600  yards. 

The  range  being  then  well  known,  firing  was 
steadily  conducted.  Anything  less  like  an  action 
between  two  ships  can  hardly  be  imagined.  We 
certainly  manage  these  matters  better  now\ 

Our  next  service  was  to  lie  guardship  to  H.M. 
the  Queen  at  Cowes  at  Christmas  time,  a  period 
then  spent  by  the  Court  at  Osborne.  After 
that  we  were  ordered  to  Bristol  to  enter  seamen 
for   the   Navy. 

4 


EARLY  EXPERIENCES 

My  readers  must  remember  this  was  before 
the  continuous  service  days  of  the  Navy,  and  that 
when  ships  commissioned  they  had  to  enter  men 
how  they  could,  and  a  seaman,  whatever  his  rating, 
belonged  to  the  service  for  that  ship's  commission, 
whether  it  was  for  one  year  or  five  years  or  more, 
and  then  was  as  free  as  if  he  had  never  served 
at  all. 

To  Bristol  we  went,  and  passed  up  the  river 
under  where  the  Clifton  suspension  bridge  now 
is ;  a  hawser  only  was  then  stretched  across,  with 
a  basket  in  which  some  adventurous  people  were 
hauled  over.  We  passed  through  the  Cumberland 
basin  and  into  the  river  beyond,  and  lay  there 
two  or  three  weeks,  probably  the  only  man-of-war 
that  ever  lay  in  the  Avon. 

We  were  often  with  the  Channel  Fleet,  then 
all  sailing  vessels,  and  exercise  aloft  was  frequent. 

The  Encounter  was,  I  think,  the  smartest  ship 
aloft  with  her  spars  and  sails  that  I  ever  served 
in.  After  drill  aloft  with  the  Channel  Squadron, 
I  have  seen  her  sometimes  so  much  in  advance, 
and  finished  so  long  before  the  other  ships,  that 
the  Captain  proposed  to  turn  the  hands  up  to 
see  the  other  ships  finish. 

During  the  winter  of  1852-3  we  were  more 
than  once  at  anchor  at  Spithead  with  the  Channel 
Squadron,  in  a  gale  of  wind  with  lower  yards 
and  topmasts  struck,  and  no  communication  with 
the  shore  for  a  whole  day.  In  those  days  no 
steamboats  existed. 

In  April  the  ship  went  into  dockyard  hands 
at  Portsmouth  to  ship  new  boilers,  and  we  were 

5 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

all  put  to  live  in  the  Dryad  hulk.  She  was  an 
old  frigate  moored  close  to  the  logs  in  front  of 
the  Hard.  In  her  we  spent  a  few  weeks  with 
discijiline  much  relaxed,  and  very  varied  visitors 
from  the  shore.' 

I  think  young  officers  of  the  present  day 
cannot  imagine  what  life  in  a  midshipmen's 
berth  was  then  sometimes  like.  If  they  want  to 
form  a  just  idea,  let  them  read  some  of  Smollett, 
or  a  description  in  '  Rattlin  the  Reefer  '  of  his 
joining  his  ship. 

In  the  'fifties  many  convicts  worked  in  Ports- 
mouth dockyard,  and  lived  at  night  in  two 
hulks  moored  just  inside  Blockhouse  point. 
They  were  herded  in  cells  holding  several  men, 
and  could  look  through  the  gun  ports,  which  were 
strongly  barred.  I  have  known  naval  officers 
pull  round  these  hulks  and  chaff  the  gaol  birds, 
who  were  not  backward  in  repartee,  more  forcible 
than  refined. 

There  was  a  story  told  of  an  empt}^  mud  barge 
returning  into  Portsmouth  Harbour,  and  as  she 
passed  close  by  a  man-of-war,  some  one  on  board 
the  latter  very  improperly  called  out  to  the  two 
bargees,  '  There 's  a  rat  in  your  fore-chains,' 
which  was  well-known  barge  chaff.  The  only 
reply  made  was  by  one  bargee  saying  to  the 
other  loud  enough  to  be  heard  in  the  ship,  *  Bill. 

'  If  anyone  wishes  to  get  an  idea  of  life  in  a  midship- 
men's mess  at  that  time,  let  them  read  the  first  chapter 
of  Hurrah  for  the  Life  of  a  Sailor — which  I  recommend, — 
written  by  my  old  messmate  and  friend,  Admiral  Sir  William 
Kennedy. 

6 


EARLY  EXPERIENCES 

it's  werry    'ard   we   seldom    comes   into    Ports- 
mouth Harbour  without    meeting    with    a  

fool  !  ' 

I  was  only  eight  months  in  the  Encounter, 
and  as  she  had  no  naval  instructor  I  was  then 
moved  to  a  ship  that  carried  one. 


CHAPTER  II 


H.M.S.  TERRIBLE 


Naval  Review  —  Sir  Edmund  Lyons  —  Sinope  —  Odessa  —  Ship 
grounding  —  Russian  Steamer  —  Wreck  of  Tiger  —  Ofi 
Sevastopol — The  Cholera. 

In  July  1853  I  joined  H.M.S.  Terrible,  then  fitting 
out  at  Woolwich,  which  in  those  days  was  one 
of  our  dockyards.  Arriving  by  train  one  evening, 
a  boat  with  a  few  boys  were  sent  to  bring  me  off  ; 
the  tide  was  low  and  covered  the  bottom  of  a  long 
flight  of  stone  steps,  to  what  depth  I  knew  not ; 
mv  chest  with  all  my  possessions  in  it  took  charge 
of  the  boys  and  all  plunged  into  the  water  at  the 
bottom,  but  luckily  found  it  only  a  foot  or  so  deep  ; 
this  was  chance  and  good  luck. 

The  Terrible  was  a  paddle-wheel  steam  frigate 
of  21  guns.  Built  about  1846,  she  was  always 
the  finest  paddle-wheel  man-of-war  in  our 
Nav^-,  Her  tonnage  was  1847,  her  horse-power 
800  nominal,  her  extreme  full  speed  nearly  13 
knots,  then  wonderful  for  a  man-of-war.  Her 
guns  seven  68-pounders  95  cwt.,  the  heaviest  in 
the  service  or  anywhere,  four  lo-inch  hollow  shot 
84-cwt.  guns,  and  ten  S-inch  hollow  shot  ones. 
Complement  of  men  300.     When  built,  indeed,  she 

8 


NAVAL   REVIEW   AT   SPITHEAD 

was  the  most  powerfully  armed  steamship  afloat. 
This  was  her  third  commission. 

Her  Captain  was  J.J.  McCleverty,  and  a  more 
cool  and  courageous  man  never  I  believe  wore  the 
British  uniform,  as  one  or  two  occasions  in  that 
ship  showed. 

We  took  part  in  the  Naval  Review  at  Spithead, 
on  nth  August  1853,  in  the  presence  of  H.M.  Queen 
Victoria,  the  chief  naval  interest  being  centred 
in  H.M.S.  Duke  of  Wellington,  121  guns,  a  new  ship 
and  the  first  screw  three-decker  in  the  world.  She 
was  launched  at  Pembroke  in  1852  as  the  Windsor 
Castle,  but  on  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton in  September  of  that  year,  the  Queen  ordered 
the  ship  to  be  named  after  that  splendid  soldier. 

It  may  interest  naval  officers  to  hear  that 
the  first  appearance  of  semaphore  on  board  ship 
was  at  the  above  review,  when  one  was  fitted  on 
the  taffrails  of  the  steamers  to  assist  in  keeping 
station.  We  had  one  ;  but  directly  the  review  was 
over  they  were  all  landed,  and  were  not  adopted 
as  a  service  fitting  till  about  1870. 

At  the  end  of  August  we  were  one  of  the  ships 
accompanying  Her  Majesty  in  the  Victoria  and 
Albert  from  Holyhead  to  Kingstown  to  open  the 
Dublin  Exhibition.  The  Terrible  was  the  fastest 
ship  of  war  that  could  be  found,  but  the  highest 
speed  we  were  able  to  go  on  the  run  across  was 
12 '8  knots.  The  Royal  Yacht  went  one  or  two 
knots  faster.  The  other  three  escorting  men- 
of-war  were  left  hull  down  before  we  got  to 
Kingstown. 

In    October    1853    we    were    ordered    to    the 

9 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

Mediterranean  station,  and  to  proceed  to  Spithead 
to  embark  Rear-Admiral  Sir  Edmund  Lyons, 
Bart.,  and  his  staff  for  passage,  and  to  be  second 
in  command  on  that  station. 

This  was  in  view  of  the  war  clouds  gathering 
in  the  East,  and  foreshadowing  the  Crimean  War. 
Sir  Edmund  Lyons  was  at  that  time  just  63  years 
old ;  he  had  been  made  commander  at  21,  and  a 
captain  at  23  in  1814,  but  was  35J  years  on  the 
captains'  list,  and  therefore  not  made  a  rear- 
admiral  till  he  was  over  59  years  old. 

When  this  is  considered  one  sees  how  bad  was 
the  system  of  providing  officers  for  the  highest 
ranks  of  the  service.  In  the  early  'fifties  there 
could  be  no  rear-admirals  under  nearly  sixty ; 
the  result  was  that  it  was  often  necessary  to  make 
first-class  commodores  instead ;  which  rank  is 
a  standing  insult  to  the  rear-admirals'  list.  Sir 
David  Milne  was  in  his  eighty-first  year  while 
still  Commander-in-Chief  at  Devonport,  and 
many  other  such  cases  could  be  cited. 

Mr.  Childers  rendered  a  great  service  to  the 
country  by  his  age  retirement  scheme.  No  man 
after  fifty  becomes  more  fit  in  any  way  in  my 
opinion  to  perform  the  duties  of  an  admiral  in 
command  at  sea,  especially  if  under  the  strain  of 
war.  Some  men  no  doubt  last  longer  than  others, 
but  if  I  hear  a  man  over  sixty  say  he  is  as  fit  for 
the  above  as  he  was  at  forty,  I  say  he  is  evidently 
too  old  already. 

Sir  Edmund  Lyons  had  just  had  the  experience 
(for  the  naval  officer  on  the  active  list  an  extra- 
ordinary one)  of  a  diplomatic  career,  having  been 

10 


MEDITERRANEAN 

our  Minister  at  Athens  since  1835,  a  service  he 
had  admirably  performed. 

But  in  these  days  we  cannot  imagine  a  naval 
officer,  after  nearly  twenty  years  on  shore,  hoisting 
his  flag  at  sea  ! 

However,  changes  in  ships  went  slowly  in  those 
days,  and  Admiral  Benbow  might  have  taken 
command  of  a  sailing  line-of-battle  ship  in  1853 
and  only  remarked  that  she  was  larger,  and  the 
guns  heavier,  than  he  had  been  used  to. 

We  called  at  Gibraltar,  my  first  foreign  port, 
and  at  Malta;  and  passing  Constantinople,  joined 
the  alhed  French  and  English  Fleets  at  anchor 
in  Beikos  Bay  on  24th  November.  On  the 
arrival  of  H.M.S.  Agamemnon,  Sir  Edmund  Lyons 
shifted  his  flag  to  her  on  28th  December. 

By  this  time  few  could  doubt  that  war  must 
follow.  On  30th  November  occurred  the  Sinope  1 
affair  when  a  Russian  squadron  under  Admiral 
Nachimoff  entered  the  harbour  of  Sinope,  and 
destroyed  a  Turkish  squadron  of  very  inferior 
force  at  anchor  there. 

This  action  on  the  part  of  Russia  has  been 
severely  criticised,  but  the  two  countries  were 
virtually  at  war,  and  so  I  consider  it  was  legitimate ; 
the  only  questions  being :  Should  the  Turkish 
squadron  have  been  given  a  fair  chance  of  surren- 
dering? and.  Did  the  Russians  continue  their 
fire  longer  than  was  necessary  when  resistance 
had  ceased  ? 

^  Readers  of  Thackeray's  Rose  and  the  Ring  may  not  be 
aware  that  Sinope  is  the  ancient  Paflagonia  where  King  Valoroso 
XXIV  reigned. 

II 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

On  4th  January  1854  we  accompanied  the 
combined  English  and  French  Fleets  into  the 
Black  Sea  for  a  short  cruise,  and  then  returned 
to  the  Bosphorus  ;  this  was  a  very  definite  demon- 
stration to  Russia  of  our  intention  to  support 
Turke}'. 

On  the  6th  we  visited  Sinope,  and  I  was  much 
interested  at  seeing  for  the  first  time  the  result 
of  a  fight,  in  the  wrecks  of  the  Turkish  squadron, 
and  their  demoHshed  batteries. 

On  24th  March  the  combined  Fleet  left  the 
Bosphorus  for  good,  and  proceeded  to  Kavarna 
Bay,  which  now  became  their  principal  rendezvous 
till  the  expedition  left  for  the  invasion  of  the 
Crimea. 

On  9th  April  a  general  signal  from  the  Bri- 
tannia  told  us  that  war  was  declared  against 
Russia,  and  it  was  of  course  received  with  cheers. 

On  the  17th  the  Fleet  left  for  Odessa  and  anchored 
off  it  on  the  20th,  it  being  decided  to  bombard  that 
place.  I  am  aware  that  this  proceeding  has  been 
adversely  criticised  by  some  ;  but  I  think  it 
was  quite  justified  by  two  things  :  first,  that  a 
flag  of  truce  sent  in  by  the  Furious  just  before 
we  heard  of  war,  to  bring  away  our  Consul,  had 
been  fired  on  ;  and,  second,  that  many  English 
and  French  merchant  ships  trading  to  Odessa 
when  war  was  declared  were  not  allowed  to  leave. 
Several  of  them  under  cover  of  our  attack  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping. 

On  22nd  April  1854  the  first  shot  in  the  war 
may  be  said  to  have  been  fired.  The  bombard- 
ment   was    conducted   by  five    English    paddle - 

12 


;5 

u 

H    I 
<<    to 


P   1 


CO 

c/: 

H 
Q 


OUTBREAK   OF   THE    CRIMEAN   WAR 

wheel  steamers,  viz.  the  Sampson,  Retribution, 
Tiger,  Furious,  and  Terrible,  and  three  French 
ones,  viz.  the  Mogador,  Vauban,  and  Descartes. 
We  were  divided  into  two  divisions,  the  idea 
being  that  all  would  not  be  engaged  at  once. 
The  action  began  about  6.30  a.m.  and  lasted 
with  intervals  till  after  4  p.m.,  partly  under  way 
and  partly  at  anchor. 

At  about  1.30  P.M.  the  magazine  on  the  Mole 
blew  up,  a  fine  sight  to  us. 

Besides  the  steamers  some  rocket  boats  were 
sent  in  from  the  Fleet  to  set  fire  to  the  shipping  ; 
and  a  pretty  episode  resembling  olden  days  took 
place  in  the  Arethusa,  a  50-gun  sailing  frigate,  then 
commanded  by  Captain  W.  R.  Mends,  1  standing 
in  under  sail  and  engaging  the  outer  batteries  ; 
this  being,  I  beheve,  the  last  time  that  an  English 
man-of-war  was  ever  in  action  under  sail. 

One's  first  experience  of  warfare  is  not  the 
less  impressive  on  the  mind,  if  it  occurs  when  one 
is  not  quite  fourteen  years  old. 

On  25th  April  we  left  for  Constantinople, 
chiefly  to  take  despatches,  and  on  4th  May  we 
rejoined  the  Fleet  cruising  off  Sevastopol.  This 
was  our  first  sight  of  that  great  sea  fortress, 
of  which  really  very  little  was  known  to  the  world 
at  large,  and  I  firmly  believe  that  if  in  the  year 
1853  you  had  asked  at  an  ordinary  London 
dinner  party, '  What  and  where  is  Sevastopol  ? '  very 
few  people  could  have  given  you  a  proper  answer. 

We  were  very  ill  informed  as  to  the  number 

'  Afterwards  Admiral   Sir  William  Mends,   G.C.B.,   and   the 
splendid  organiser  of  the  trooping  and  transport  service  generally. 

13 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

of  Russian  trooyis  in  the  Crimea.  In  those  days 
of  innocence,  ignorance,  or  indifference— which 
was  it  ? — intelHgence  departments  existed  not 
with  us,  and  the  world  generally  was  not  as  occu- 
pied with  military  matters  as  it  is  now. 

The  allied  fleets  cruised  off  Sevastopol  for 
several  days  under  sail,  often  in  thick  fog,  and 
I  remember  one  day  a  French  line-of-battle  ship 
looming  out  of  the  fog  close  to  our  starboard  beam, 
both  ships  barely  moving  and  ours  just  clearing 
her  by  putting  men  in  our  paddle-wheels  to  turn 
them,  the  wheels  being  of  course  disconnected 
from  the  engines.  The  Russian  ships  remained 
inside  their  harbour. 

At  this  time  we  heard  the  sad  news  of  the 
loss  of  H.M.S.  Tiger  on  12th  May.  In  a  thick  fog 
she  ran  on  shore  under  a  high  cliff  four  miles  from 
Odessa.  The  Russians  soon  saw  her  and  opened 
fire  with  field-pieces  and  small-arms,  which  she 
could  hardly  return. 

It  was  soon  evident  she  could  not  be  saved,  so 
her  Captain  (H.  \V.  Giffard)  ordered  the  ship  to  be 
set  on  fire  and  the  crew  to  land.  They  were,  of 
course,  made  prisoners.  Among  other  casualties 
the  Captain  was  mortally  wounded  and  his  nephew, 
a  midshipman  of  the  same  name,  was  killed. 

During  the  summer  of  1854  we  were  chiefly 
employed  in  reconnoitring  Sevastopol,  in  company 
with  one  or  two  other  ships,  English  or  French. 
We  generally  arranged  so  as  to  appear  off  the 
harbour  at  daylight,  so  as  to  close  it  as  near  as 
their  guns'  range  allowed,  before  a  superior  force 
of  ships  could  be  sent  to  drive  us  off. 


RECONNOITRING   OFF    SEVASTOPOL 

On  one  occasion,  on  23rd  August,  we  were 
nearly  lost  like  the  Tiger.  We,  with  the  Fury 
in  company,  arrived  off  Sevastopol  early  one 
morning,  and  finding  some  of  their  line-of-battle 
ships  outside,  we  were  running  to  the  northward 
along  the  coast.  After  going  a  few  miles  we  saw 
a  boat  pulling  in  for  the  land,  and,  wishing  to 
cut  her  off,  we  edged  a  little  more  in  shore. 

It  was  my  morning  watch  and  I  was  on  the 
forecastle  getting  a  gun  pointed  on  the  boat, 
when  suddenly  I  felt  the  deck  rise  under  me,  and 
heard  a  noise  like  the  beaching  of  a  boat  on  shingle. 

We  had  struck  on  a  shoal  running  out  from 
the  land.     The  ship  rolled  but  held  her  way. 

One's  immediate  thought  was,  Shall  we  be  a 
second  Tiger?  And  the  alternatives  between 
being  killed  in  defending  the  ship,  or  put  in 
a  Russian  prison,  loomed  before  us  ;  but  happily 
our  ship  being  at  full  speed  saved  us,  and  we 
got  clear  over  the  reef  though  with  much  damage 
to  the  keel  and  planking  near  it.  Such  moments 
are  anxious  ones,  especially  to  those  in  command. 

On  15th  June  off  Sevastopol  in  company  with 
the  Furious  we  found  the  Russian  squadron  at 
sea  with  six  men-of-war  steamers.  These  last 
stood  toward  us  and  we  let  them  come  within  range. 
The  wind  was  blowing  towards  Sevastopol,  so  their 
sailing  ships  could  only  stand  out  close  hauled. 

The  steamers  hoisted  Russian  ensigns  at  their 
mast-heads,  and  all  looked  promising  for  a  sea 
fight.  Much  enthusiasm  existed  on  board  us,  officers 
got  their  pistols  ready  and  non-executive  officers 
volunteered  to  fight  the  boats'  brass  guns. 

15 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

However,  after  mutually  exchanging  shots 
for  about  two  hours,  the  Russians  seemed  to 
think  they  were  getting  too  far  from  their  fleet, 
and  turned  back  to  rejoin  their  line-of-battle 
ships,  we  following  as  far  as  was  reasonable, 
on  account  of  the  latter. 

This  was  the  only  case  in  the  Black  Sea  during 
the  war  of  vessels  under  way  engaging  each 
other. 

Our  frequent  reconnoitring  duty  was  to  count 
the  ships  in  Sevastopol ;  their  entire  fleet  seemed 
to  be  three  three-deckers,  ten  two-deckers,  five 
frigates,  and  six  steamers.  The  land  defences  of 
the  south  side  looked  very  slight  indeed,  as  was 
found,  at  first,  to  be  the  case. 

On  8th  July  in  the  evening  we  arrived  off 
the  Sulina  mouth  of  the  Danube  a  few  hours  too 
late  to  take  part  in  an  attack  by  the  boats  of  the 
Firebrand  and  Vesuvius  on  some  Russian  works 
just  inside  the  river.  This  operation  was  com- 
manded by  Captain  Hyde  Parker  of  the  Firebrand, 
who,  while  leading  his  men  with  great  gallantry, 
was  shot  through  the  heart. 

On  13th  July  we  and  the  Furious  went  to 
Cape  Fontane,  where  the  Tiger  was  lost,  and 
opened  fire  on  her  wreck  in  order  to  destroy  the 
machinery,  lest  the  Russians  should  make  use  of  it. 

They  brought  field-pieces  to  the  edge  of  the 
cliffs  and  returned  our  fire,  but  we  succeeded 
in  silencing  them,  and  then  did  what  we  wanted. 
As  soon  as  the  field-pieces  retired,  and  the  Russians 
saw  that  our  fire  was  only  continued  on  the 
wreck,  the  cliffs  were  covered  with  people,  many 

16 


SEVASTOPOL 

women  among  them,   to  watch  the  proceedmgs, 
as  if  all  was  friendliness. 

It  was  a  very  pretty  sight  to  arrive  off  Sevas- 
topol early  on  a  lovely  summer  morning,  and  see 
the  fine  white  town  girt  as  to  its  sea  shores  with 
massive  grey  granite  forts  ;  and  beyond  the  town 
on  the  south  side  the  ground  sloping  upwards, 
and  often  covered  with  many  white  tents,  where  the 
allied  armies'  lines  and  batteries  were  soon  to  be 
made. 

The  harbour  displaying  a  fine  fleet  all  ready 
for  sea,  and  all  as  it  were  smiling  in  the  sunny 
morning,  and  as  little  foretelling  the  really  awful 
destruction  of  life  and  property,  and  the  frightful 
human  suffering,  which  a  few  months  was  to 
witness  there. 

Tolstoy's  *  Sevastopol '  is  a  work  half  history, 
half  novel,  but  to  my  mind  it  puts  very  vividly 
before  its  reader  what  life  in  the  town  was  like 
during  the  siege. 

Our  cruises  off  Sevastopol  were  varied  by 
lying  at  anchor  off  Baljick  in  Kavarna  Bay,  some 
fifteen  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Varna,  where 
the  allied  armies  were  assembling. 

In  July  the  cholera  broke  out  among  the 
troops,  commencing  with  the  French,  who  even- 
tually lost  most  men  by  it,  and  soon  after,  in 
August,  it  attacked  the  ships  also. 

The  Britannia,  the  flagship  of  our  Commander- 
in-Chief,  Vice- Admiral  Sir  James  Dundas,  lost  50 
in  one  night,  and  10  the  next  day  ;  and  three  of 
the  French  three-deckers  lost  respectively  152, 
120,  and  80  men. 

17  c 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

The  transports  were  beginning  to  assemble  to 
take  the  army  to  the  Crimea ;  and  when  our  Hne- 
of-battle  ships  went  out  for  a  cruise  in  hopes  of 
im})roving  the  men's  health,  our  ship  and  another 
were  left  to  guard  the  transports. 

In  a  few  days  our  ships  returned  with  the 
cholera  no  less  on  board,  and  I  and  others  were 
emi)loyed  in  going  alongside  the  large  ships  and 
taking  the  men  ill,  some  dying  with  cholera,  in 
our  boats  to  the  transports.  This,  however,  did 
not  give  the  cholera  to  any  of  our  men,  which, 
added  to  my  further  experience  in  other  parts  of 
the  world,  has  made  me  regard  that  disease  as 
non-infectious.  No  doubt  others  in  the  same 
locality  and  conditions  of  air  or  water  may  be 
liable  for  the  same  reasons  to  take  it,  but  vicinity 
to  patients  does  not,  by  my  experience,  seem  to 
give  it. 

In  all  the  ships  that  had  the  epidemic  the 
proportion  of  officers  affected  was  very  small 
indeed. 


18 


CHAPTER  III 

H.M.S.  TERRIBLE  (continued) 

Expedition  to  the  Crimea — Battle  of   the  Alma — Siege   begins 
17th  October — Bombardment  of  Sevastopol. 

All  this  time  the  preparations  for  the  Crimean 
expedition  were  maturing  at  Varna  :  the  transport 
part  and  the  embarking  and  landing  programme 
were  progressing  under  the  immediate  supervision 
of  Sir  Edmund  Lyons,  his  Flag  Captain,  Captain 
W.  R.  Mends,  late  of  the  Arethusa,  being,  I  believe, 
really  the  chief  hand  in  the  naval  part  of  the 
scheme  and  arrangements,  his  military  colleague 
being,  principally,  Sir  George  Brown. 

It  is  not  my  part  or  object  to  dwell  on  the 
general  proceedings  of  this  great  expedition, 
which  have  been  so  well  described  by  several 
historians.  Everyone  admits  the  almost  perfect 
part  played  by  our  Navy  in  the  embarkation, 
transporting,  and  landing  of  our  troops. 

Finally  we  left  the  anchorage  off  Baljick  on 
7th  September  with  the  Fleet  and  transports 
in  company. 

19  C2 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

The  next  day  we  joined  up  with  our  alhes, 
the  French  and  Turkish  Fleets  at  sea,  about 
thirty  miles  south  of  Serpent  Island,  and,  after 
about  a  week's  passage  the  landing  of  the  armies 
at  Old  Fort  was  completed  by  about  the  i8th 
September. 

The  disembarkation  was  on  a  low  beach, 
without  shelter  from  the  sea,  but  the  weather 
was  on  the  whole  favourable,  and  the  enemy  as 
is  known  attempted  no  opposition. 

There  was  then  no  steamboats,  which  would 
now  accelerate  matters.  Our  paddle-box  boats 
were  much  the  largest  in  the  service,  they  drew 
very  little  water  and  were  most  useful  for  landing 
men  and  horses  ;  a  platform  was  in  many  cases 
built  on  two  boats  placed  side  by  side,  and  on 
this  a  lar-e  number  of  soldiers  stood  and  were 
thus  conveyed  to  the  shore. 

During  this  time  we  were  often  off  Sevastopol 
watching  the  Russian  ships.  Some  people  have, 
I  believe,  blamed  them  for  not  coming  out  and 
attacking  the  transports  ;  but,  when  the  com- 
parative force  of  the  allied  squadrons  and  of  the 
Russians  is  considered,  I  think  any  such  charge 
is  absurd. 

It  seems  now  very  curious  that  opinions 
were  much  divided  as  to  where  the  landing  in  the 
Crimea  should  be — from  Eupatoria  even  to  Kaffa 
places  were  suggested ;  but  such  variety  of 
opinions  may  be  expected  in  the  case  of  allied 
forces  of  different  nations. 

On  19th  September  the  armies  moved  towards 
Sex'astopol,  the  Fleet  accompanj'ing  them,  if  the 

20 


BATTLE   OF   THE   ALMA 

term  may  be  allowed  ;  that  is,  keeping  abreast 
along  the  coast.  On  the  20th  the  Battle  of  the  Alma 
was  fought,  so  called  after  the  small  river  of  that 
name. 

We  on  board  the  ships  had  a  very  fair  side 
view  of  the  battle,  which,  considering  its  import- 
ance, occupied  a  very  short  time.  The  Crimean 
campaign  is  now  '  ancient  history '  and  therefore 
public  opinion  is  probably  but  lukewarm  about 
it.  It  is  not  for  me  to  criticise,  but  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  after  the  Battle  of  the 
Alma,  the  allies  could  have  gone  straight  into 
the  north  side,  and  thus  captured  Sevastopol  with 
very  little,  if  any,  further  loss. 

I  know  this  not  only  from  reading,  but  from 
talking  in  after  years  with  French  and  with 
Russian  officers  who  were  present  there. 

The  result  of  our  not  doing  so,  but  sitting 
down  before  the  place  for  a  siege,  was  no  doubt 
to  bleed  Russia  through  an  extremity.  But 
that  was  not  what  the  expedition  was  sent  for. 
It  was  to  take  Sevastopol,  and  capture  or 
destroy  the  Russian  Fleet,  and  when  commanders, 
naval  or  military,  are  by  their  Governments, 
or  superiors,  ordered  to  do  a  thing,  I  presume 
their  duty  is  to  do  it  —  if  they  can  —  and  as 
quickly  and  with  as  little  loss  to  their  own  forces 
as  may  be. 

Any  student  of  the  Crimean  campaign  can  see 
various  errors  that  were  committed  ;  but  at  least 
two  brilliant  facts  stand  out :  one,  that,  on  the 
whole,  good  relations  were  maintained  between 
the   allied  commanders  and  forces;   and,  second, 

21 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

the  great  courage  generally  displayed  by  the 
troops  of  both  the  allies  and  of  the  Russians. 

After  the  Battle  of  the  Alma  the  French 
Commander-in-Chief,  Marshal  St.  Arnaud,  became 
so  ill  that  he  had  to  leave  for  home  and  was 
succeeded  by  General  Canrobert,  and  the  flank 
march,  so  called,  to  move  round  the  town  towards 
Balaklava  and  invest  the  south  side  of  Sevastopol 
was  carried  out. 

It  would  seem  that  the  allied  commanders  did 
not  know  they  could  have  at  once  taken  the 
north  side,  and  if  so  the  southern  position  for 
a  long  siege  had  this  immense  indisputable  ad- 
vantage, that  it  gave  the  allies  Balaklava  harbour 
and  the  Kazatch  and  Kameish  creeks  as  sheltered 
places  for  shipping  and  landing  operations  ;  none 
such  existing  to  the  north  side. 

For  the  Russians  the  advantage  of  the  above 
was,  that  during  all  the  siege,  reinforcements  and 
supplies  could  be,  and  were,  constantly  arriving 
by  land.  The  south  side  of  Sevastopol  had  but 
scanty  land  defences  ;  evidently  a  sea  attack  was 
what  had  always  been  expected  and  prepared 
for,  and  I  believe  that  if  the  city  had  been  at 
once  stormed  on  the  south  side,  it  would  have 
been  taken.  I  form  my  opinions  partly  from 
what  Russian  officers,  who  were  there,  have  told 
me. 

I  will  not  attempt  any  account  of  the  opera- 
tions, which  can  be  very  well  obtained  from  various 
well-known  works ;  but  onh*  say  that,  it  being 
decided  that  the  English  should  take  the  right 
attack  and  the  French  the  left,   we  were  given 

22 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  BLOCKADE 

Balaklava  as  our  principal  port,  and  the  French 
took  Kameish  creek,  which  is  to  the  westward 
of  the  city  ;  we  also  having  a  smaller  one,  the 
Kazatch  creek,  which  is  again  west  of  Kameish. 

The  allies  now  set  to  work  to  prepare  their 
siege  batteries,  which  were  armed  very  greatly 
with  ships'  guns,  manned  by  a  Naval  Brigade  from 
the  Fleet,  as  well  as  by  the  military  siege  train 
worked  by  artillerymen. 

The  Russians  under  that  great  soldier  General 
Todleben  at  the  same  time  threw  up  bastions,  which 
were  also  principally  armed  with  guns  from  their 
ships. 

Comparatively  httle  fire  was  exchanged  until 
the  17th  October,  which  date  the  Russians  still 
celebrate  as  the  real  opening  of  the  siege. 

The  question  of  what  active  part  the  ships 
should  take  in  the  attack  on  the  forts  was,  I 
believe,  found  difficult  to  settle;  I  will  onl}'  say 
that  the  Admirals  decided  to  bombard  the  sea 
defences  on  the  day  that  the  shore  batteries 
opened  fire.  During  that  time  the  allied  fleets 
were  mostly  at  anchor  off  the  Katcha  River  to 
the  north-east  of  Sevastopol. 

At  times  the  Terrible  and  other  steamers  passed 
by  the  north  shore  of  Sevastopol  to  reconnoitre, 
and  exchanged  long  shots  with  the  earthworks  on 
the  cliff.  There  was  one  especially  noted  called  the 
*  Wasp.'  We  had  four  68-pounders  95  cwt.  mounted 
on  broadside  carriages,  on  the  main  deck. 

These  we  got  up  on  deck,  and  cut  the  carriages 
so  as  to  give  them  greater  elevation,  when  we  got 
them  to  carry  about  4000  yards  in  distance — then 

23 


MY    NAVAL   CAREER 

thought    extraordinary.      The     '  Wasp's '     guns 
ranged  about  the  same  distance. 

About  daybreak  on  the  17th  the  ahied  batteries 
opened  fire,  and  were  at  once  rephed  to  by  the 
Russians  with  great  vigour. 

It  had  at  first  been  proposed  that  the  ships 
should  also  go  into  action  early  in  the  day,  but 
this  was  deferred  to  midday,  and  I  think  wisely, 
as  it  was  desired  not  to  expend  too  much  ammuni- 
tion at  first,  which  a  whole  day's  firing  would 
have  done  ;  and  to  have  begun  early  in  the  day, 
and  retired  at  midday  after  a  few  hours,  would 
have  seemed  like  a  defeat,  which  it  did  not  do 
when  they  only  hauled  out  as  night  came  on. 

The  sea  bombardment  of  Sevastopol  did  not 
hasten  the  fall  of  the  place  by  one  hour,  but  I 
think  it  was  right  to  have  it,  as  its  result  could 
not  be  certainly  foretold,  and  its  object  greatly 
was  to  force  the  Russians  to  have  a  large  number 
of  men  employed  in  manning  the  sea  defences. 

The  bombardment  by  the  ships  began  about 
I  P.M.  on  the  17th,  the  Russians  first  firing  on 
the  leading  French  ships. 

At  1. 15  the  Admiral  signalled  'Sampson, 
Tribune  and  Terrible  engage  the  enemy,'  and  our 
Fleet  moved  into  action.  We  began  firing,  and 
at  dark  returned  to  our  anchorage  oft  the  Katcha 
River,  with  the  Fleets. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  unpleasant  talk  as 
to  the  part  played  by  some  vessels,  and  the  posi- 
tions they  took  up  during  the  action,  but  of  this 
I  shall  say  nothing  except  that  the  English  ships 
which   occupied  the  best  position   for   damaging 

24 


BOMBARDMENT   OF   SEVASTOPOL 

the  enemy  were  tne  Agamemnon  (flagship  of  Sir 
Edmund  Lyons)  and  the  Sans  Pareil  (Captain 
Sydney  Dacres).  These  were  the  only  steam  Hne- 
of-battle  ships  in  our  Fleet,  which  of  course  gave 
them  great  manoeuvring  advantages. 

Human  nature  does  not  alter  much,  and  I 
imagine  that  in  past  days  after  every  general 
action  opinions  were  divided  as  to  who  played  the 
best  part.  I  have,  however,  little  sympathy 
with  those  who  try  to  enhance  their  own 
prowess  by  running  down  the  conduct  of 
others. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  mentioning  the  gallant 
performance  of  the  Circassia,  a  small  paddle-wheel 
tugboat  brought  into  the  service  and  commanded 
by  Mr.  Ball,  a  second  master. i 

She  steamed  in  ahead  of  the  Agamemnon, 
sounding  carefully  and  signalling  the  depth  of 
water,  to  prevent  the  latter  from  running  on  the 
shoals  off  the  north  side  of  the  harbour's  mouth. 
All  the  sailing  line-of-battle  ships  had  steam  men- 
of-war  lashed  alongside  them  to  tow. 

The  general  formation  of  the  combined  Fleets 
was  a  crescent,  the  French  being  to  the  south- 
west, the  English  to  the  north-east,  and  the  Turkish 
ships  between  the  two.  The  shoals  off  the  northern 
point  of  the  mouth  of  the  harbour  were  a  great 
danger,  and  one  or  two  of  our  ships  actually 
touched  on  them. 

The  Agamemnon  claimed  to  have  been  within 
800  yards  of  Fort  Constantine,  which  was  a  large 
stone  fort  close  to  the  water  on  the  north  side. 

*  Equal  in  rank  to  a  navigating  sub-lieutenant. 
25 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

After  the  bombardment  we  observed  men  at 
work  repairing  some  of  the  forts,  especially  Fort 
Constantinc. 

Had  it  been  decided  that  cotite  que  coute 
the  sea  defences  of  Sevastopol  should  be  disabled 
by  the  fire  of  the  ships,  I  suppose  the  way  would 
have  been  to  provide  plenty  of  ammunition,  and 
then,  dividing  the  allied  fleets  into  three  divisions, 
continue  the  attack  during  daylight  hours  till 
the  object  was  attained,  hoping  then  to  enter  the 
harbour  and  isolate  the  south  side  of  the  city 
from  the  north. 

I  have  little  personal  to  say  about  the  action  ; 
a  naval  cadet  hardly  can  have.  I  was  stationed 
at  the  fore  main  deck  quarters,  and  from  the 
bridle  ports  at  times  had  a  pretty  good  view.  It 
was  certainly  the  greatest  noise  I  have  ever  heard, 
and  when  one  considers  that  all  the  allied  land 
breaching  batteries,  and  some  twenty-three  sail 
of  the  line,  besides  smaller  vessels,  were  firing 
away  as  hard  as  they  could,  and  that  the  Russians 
from  hundreds  of  guns  were  replying,  the  noise 
made  may  be  imagined. 

Shells  in  those  days  were  but  playthings  com- 
pared to  modern  projectiles,  but  I  remember  one 
coming  into  our  quarters  and  bursting,  and,  besides 
the  actual  harm  it  did,  filling  the  place  with 
such  thick  smoke  that  for  a  few  minutes  nothing 
could  be  seen  at  the  quarters. 

The  Russians  fired  some  mortar  shells  at  the 
ships,  but  very  few  hit — I  only  remember  that  one 
fell  on  a  French  ship  and  burst  ;  the}'  would,  of 
course,  be  first  rate  against  modern  armour-plated 

26 


CONTEMPORARY   LAND   OPERATIONS 

ships,  and,  as  we  know,  most  sea  defence  citadels 
now  have  guns  for  that  purpose. 

It  had  been  expected  by  the  Generals  that 
the  bombardment  of  the  17th  would  be  followed 
shortly  by  an  assault  on  the  town  ;  but  I  suppose 
the  Russian  strength,  indicated  by  their  return 
fire,  deterred  the  allies  from  the  attempt. 

Probably  the  first  apparent  injury  done  was 
the  destruction  of  the  white  stone  tower  on  the 
Malakoff,  which  a  very  few  hours'  firing  brought 
down.i 

The  next  great  event  in  the  Crimea  was  the 
Battle  of  Balaklava  on  25th  October,  but  its 
history  is  no  part  of  my  memoir.  I  will  only  say 
that  some  field-pieces  lent  by  us  to  the  Turks  to 
assist  in  the  defence  of  Balaklava  were  captured 
by  the  Russians.  I  have  seen  them  at  the  Kremlin 
in  Moscow.  They  were,  I  believe,  the  only  guns 
lost  by  us  during  the  war. 

As  regards  the  Turks,  no  braver  private 
soldiers,  when  properly  led,  than  they  are — unless 
it  be  the  Japanese — probably  exist,  as  is  well 
known  ;  but  as  regards  the  Sevastopol  part  of 
the  war,  neither  by  land  nor  sea  did  the  Turks 
play  a  conspicuous  part. 

The  third,  and  most  severe,  field  fight  was  the 
Battle  of  Inkerman  on  5th  November ;  this 
very  distantly  by  spy-glasses  could  be  seen  from 

'  Some  achieve  mundane  immortality — so  called — in  odd 
ways.  The  Malakoff  hill,  I  believe,  is  named  after  a  purser  in 
the  Russian  Navy  of  that  name,  who  having  been  dismissed  the 
service  set  up  a  drink  shop  at  the  above  place  ;  the  Russians 
being  thirsty  souls  frequented  it,  and  it  acquired  the  name  of 
its  publican. 

27 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

some  of  the  ships,  but  it  is  not  for  me  to  relate 
this  hard-won  fight,  a  '  soldiers'  battle  '  as  it  was. 
A  desperate  struggle  in  which  our  troops  being 
on  the  right  or  east  side  of  the  allied  camps  bore 
the  first  and,  perhaps,  the  chief  part  of  the  day's 
strife  ;  but  had  we  not  been  splendidly  reinforced 
and  supported  by  the  French,  the  day  would  have 
gone  very  hard  with  us. 


28 


CHAPTER  IV 

H.M.S.    TERRIBLE    (continued) 

Fourteenth  November  Gale  of  Wind — Off  Sevastopol — The 
Commanders — Night  Attack — Kertch — The  Trenches — The 
Siege — Fall  of  Sevastopol — Kinburn. 

'  Du  sublime  au  ridicule  il  n'y  a  qu'un  pas,'  though 
not  so  for  me  on  the  nth  November,  when  I  was 
rated  midshipman,  having  been  two  years  in  the 
Navy,  and  I  much  doubt  if  any  subsequent  pro- 
motion has  given  me  more,  or  even  as  much 
pleasure. 

The  14th  November  was  a  day  to  us  nearly  as 
exciting  as  the  17th  October,  for  on  it  occurred 
the  great  gale  of  wind.  Till  then  we  were  at 
anchor  off  the  Katcha  River  as  close  in  as 
possible  to  protect  the  watering-place  from  the 
Cossacks,  which  for  the  moment  was  our  special 
duty. 

Speaking  of  the  Cossacks  reminds  me  of  how 
ubiquitous  they  seemed  to  be :  usually  when  we 
neared  the  coast  of  the  Crimea,  almost  anywhere, 
two  Cossacks  mounted  on  small  horses  appeared 
patrolling    tiie    cliffs    or    sea    shore.     From    the 

29 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

Katcha  the  Fleet  obtained  fresh  water  to  drink. 
Most  of  our  vessels  were  saihng  ships,  and  in 
steamers  at  that  date  distilHng  fresh  water  was 
in  a  very  elementary  and  crude  condition. 

The  great  gale  of  the  14th  was  from  the  west- 
ward. It  began  at  about  9.0  a.m.  where  we 
were.  We  let  go  a  second  anchor,  veered  nearly 
all  the  cable  we  could,  got  up  steam  and 
began  steaming  slowly  ahead  to  take  the  strain 
off  our  cables.  This  has  saved  many  a  ship, 
but  is  a  difficult  thing  to  do,  without  at  times 
bringing  a  heavy  jerk  on  the  cables.  We 
being  close  in  shore  were  almost  in  the 
breakers. 

Next  outside  us  lay  the  Sampson,  a  paddle- 
wheel  ship.  The  line-of-battle  ships  were  further 
out,  and  many  sailing  transports  were  also 
anchored  at  intervals  among  the  Fleet. 

By  10.30  the  gale  was  at  its  highest,  and 
several  transports  were  dragging  their  anchors 
and  going  on  shore  without  any  possibility  of 
saving  them. 

About  this  time  a  transport  ahead  of  the 
Sampson  began  drifting,  and  fouled  another, 
which  then  also  broke  adrift.  Both  these  ships 
came  athwart  the  hawse  of  the  Sampson  as  I  was 
watching  it.  The  Sampson  gave  a  dive,  and  her 
bowsprit  striking  the  transport  turned  up  at 
a  right  angle.  Next  moment  all  three  of  her 
lower  masts  gave  way  and  fell  aft,  reminding  me 
of  the  dominoes  which  a  child  sometimes  puts  up 
to  knock  each  other  over. 

The    transports    then    drifted    clear    of    the 

30 


FOURTEENTH  NOVEMBER  GALE  OF  WIND 

Sampson,  and  went  on  shore.  The  Sampson, 
wonderful  to  relate,  held  on  and  was  saved. 

Her  captain,  a  grand  old  sailor,  ^  as  soon  as 
possible  cleared  the  wreck  of  his  masts,  hoisted 
an  ensign  and  pennant  on  jury  spars,  and  asked 
leave  by  signal  to  fire  on  the  Cossacks. 

Our  turn  was  soon  to  come. 

It  had  been  my  forenoon  watch,  during  which 
the  wind  was  so  strong  that  it  was  really  hard  at 
times  to  walk  forward  in  the  teeth  of  it.  In  those 
days  midshipmen  dined  at  12  o'clock  on  what 
they  could  ^e.t  to  eat,  in  our  case  while  blockading 
Sevastopol  not  much  beyond  ship's  allowance. 

I  had  just  finished  dinner  and  was  sitting  in 
the  midshipmen's  berth  talking  to  my  messmate, 
Armand  Powlett,-  when  we  felt  a  heavy  shock, 
and  heard  water  pouring  down  the  large  hatchway 
just  outside  us  in  the  steerage.  We  jumped  up 
and  ran  up  the  ladders  on  deck  as  fast  as  we  could, 
went  over  to  the  starboard  side  of  the  quarter 
deck  and  held  on  to  the  main  topsail  halliards. 
The  ship  was  nearly  broadside  on  to  the  sea,  rolling 
heavily,  and  the  waves  were  sweeping  over  her 
and  rushing  below.  It  seemed  as  if  she  could 
not  be  saved,  and  onlookers  from  the  other  ships 
thought  so. 

What  had  happened  was  that,  while  steaming 
ahead  to  take  the  strain  off  the  cables,  they  had 
got  slack  and  a  sea  striking  the  ship  on  her  star- 
board bow,  had  paid  her  head  off  to  port,  the 
best   bower   cable    (i.e.    the    starboard   one)    had 

'  Afterwards  Admiral  Sir  Lewis  Tobias  Jones. 
'  Now  Admiral. 

33 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

parted,  and,  as  our  only  chance,  the  other  was 
slipped,  the  helm  put  hard  down,  and  the  engines 
moved  ahead  at  full  speed.  Relieving  tackles 
were  on  the  tiller  below,  without  which,  owing 
to  a  mishap  to  the  wheel  on  deck,  the  helm  could 
not  have  been  kept  down. 

Our  Captain  had  got  on  the  starboard 
paddle-box,  which  was  the  weather  one.  He 
was  as  cool  as  if  in  a  snug  harbour,  or  a  dead 
calm.  A  tremendous  sea  now  struck  the  ship 
nearly  on  her  broadside,  lifting  the  starboard 
paddle-box  boat,  throwing  it  in  amidships,  and 
knocking  the  Captain  off  the  paddle-box  on  to 
the  deck  where,  fortunately,  he  was  not  hurt,  but 
at  once  climbed  up  again. 

The  ship  was  now  almost  in  the  breakers  and 
her  keel  could  not  have  been  far  from  the  bottom ; 
however,  she  responded  to  her  helm,  and  her 
bow  came  up  head  to  wind  and  sea.  Then 
she  began  to  go  ahead,  got  out  to  sea  and  was 
saved. 

So  much  water,  however,  had  been  shipped 
that  in  the  stokehold  thirteen  out  of  our  total  of 
twenty-four  fires  were  put  out,  and  probably  all 
would  have  been  extinguished  and  the  ship  lost 
had  not  the  chief  engineer,  with  great  presence 
of  mind,  ordered  the  stokehold  plates  on  which 
the  stokers  stood  to  be  unshipped,  which  allowed 
the  water  to  get  down  into  the  bilges.  It  was 
what  is  called  '  a  very  narrow  squeak,'  but  all 
was  well. 

The  great  gale  of  14th  November  was  felt 
disastrously  cinefly  where  we  were,  off  Balaklava, 

32 


WRECK  OF  THE  HENRI  OUATRE  AND  PRINCE 

and  at  Eupatoria.  At  the  latter  place  was  lost 
the  Henri  Qiiatre,  a  very  fine  two-decked  French 
line-of-battle  ship  of  lOO  guns.  The  beach  she 
was  driven  on  was  of  shifting  sand  ;  no  one  was 
drowned,  but  the  ship  was  driven  up  so  high, 
broadside  on,  that  I  have  walked  along  a  brow 
stretched  from  her  lower  deck  port  to  the  shore. 

Off  Balaklava,  that  is  outside  it,  the  loss  of 
ships  and  of  life  was  terrible.  The  anchorage 
was  very  deep ;  anchors  were  often  let  go  in  40 
fathoms,  and  the  shore  was,  in  fact,  cliffs  of 
rock,  '  steep  to  '  as  the  expression  is.  Against 
these  precipices  several  transports  were  driven, 
fortunately  without  troops  on  board,  but  their 
hapless  crews  were  there,  and  were  nearly  all 
lost. 

The  Prince,  a  large  steamer,  was  one  so  lost. 
She  had,  only  a  few  days  before,  arrived  from 
England  with  the  46th  Regiment  on  board,  and 
a  quantity  of  ammunition  and  warm  clothing. 
By  an  odd  chance  I  had  myself  been  sent  on  board 
her  on  her  arrival,  but  not  to  remain  there. 
Happily  she  had  time  to  land  the  regiment  before 
the  gale  came  on,  but  almost  all  her  cargo  and 
nearly  all  of  the  crew  were  lost.  Great  misery 
was  caused  to  the  troops  on  shore.  They  were 
almost  entirely  in  tents,  many  of  which  were 
blown  down,  and  even  blown  away. 

At  Eupatoria,  where  several  men-of-war  and 
transports  were  lying,  besides  the  Henri  Quatre 
already  mentioned,  a  Turkish  line-of-battle  ship, 
a  French  man-of-war  steamer,  and  several  merchant 
ships  were  lost. 

33 


MY    NAVAL   CAREER 

The  total  loss  of  ships  of  all  sorts  during  the 
gale  of  the  14th  was  about  forty-two.  It  was  a 
great  satisfaction  to  us  that  no  English  man-of-war 
was  lost. 

The  winter  was  now  upon  us,  it  was  a  dreary 
time  for  everyone  both  ashore  and  afloat.  The 
Generals  had  decided  to  put  off  the  next  assault 
sine  die,  and  only  to  invest  the  south  side  of 
the  city  by  land. 

The  Fleet's  duty  was  to  blockade  closely  by 
sea. 

We  were  frequently  at  anchor  off  the  harbour's 
mouth  day  and  night  with  steam  all  but  up,  a 
small  anchor  down,  guns  cleared  away  and  loaded, 
and  at  night  the  watch  lying  down  near  their 
quarters  in  case  a  Russian  ship  ventured  out. 

On  7th  December  early  in  the  afternoon  the 
Vladimir,  the  most  powerful  of  the  Russian 
steamers,  did  come  out  far  enough  to  shell  the 
western  French  camp,  but  returned  before  she 
could  be  cut  off.  None  of  our  ships  were  off  the 
harbour  at  the  moment ;  we  were  coaling,  but 
our  steam  was  nearly  up,  and  we  were  soon  off  to 
help  to  drive  her  in,  the  Valorous  just  ahead  of  us. 
On  20th  December,  Vice-Admiral  Dundas, 
Commander-in-Chief  on  the  station,  his  three 
years  having  expired,  gave  up  the  command  to 
Sir  Edmund  Lyons,  and  sailed  in  the  Furious 
on  his  way  home. 

Admiral  Dundas,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war,  found  himself  in  a  very  awkward  position, 
as  he  felt  his  age  and  failing  strength  unequal  to 
the  work  now  imposed  upon  him. 

34 


AGE  RETIREMENT— THE    COMMANDERS 

His  successor.  Sir  Edmund  Lyons  then  64 
years  old,  was  wonderfully  active  for  his  age.  We 
all  greatly  admired  him,  and  to  me  and  my  mess- 
mate, Armand  Powlett,  he  showed  much  kindness. 

Letters  from  Sir  Edmund's  Flag-captain  speak 
with  great  affection  and  admiration  of  him,  but 
show  that  he  also  felt  the  burden  of  his  years, 
and  that,  though  a  better  officer  for  the  post  could 
probably  not  have  been  found,  he  would  ten  years 
earlier  have  been  even  more  efficient. 

My  experience  makes  me  a  great  advocate  of 
age  retirement,  and  indeed  I  believe  the  country 
would  greatly  benefit  if  such  a  regulation  existed  for 
ALL  paid  servants  of  the  State  under  the  Crown. 

Many  men  as  they  get  old  '  lose  their  nerve,'  as 
it  is  called  ;  how  should  I  define  it  ?  A  more 
lively  apprehension  of  the  possibility  of  mishap 
perhaps  fits  it.  As  regards  the  Crimean  Generals, 
there  were  three  English  Commanders-in-Chief 
and  also  three  French,  as  is  well  known.  The 
first  French  one  had  to  leave  for  ill-health  after 
the  Alma ;  the  second,  a  brave  man,  could  not  bear 
the  responsibility ;  the  third.  General  Pelissier, 
was  in  my  opinion  the  great  soldier  of  the  allied 
forces,  strong  and  determined. 

As  regards  our  three  Generals,  the  first,  Lord 
Raglan,  was  a  most  high-minded  and  gallant 
gentleman,  but  his  age,  and  perhaps  the  strain  of 
having  lost  his  right  arm,  were  against  his  con- 
stantly being  out  and  about.  The  second  was 
but  a  short  time  in  command  ;  of  him  I  will  say 
no  more.  The  third  had  no  real  opportunity  of 
doing  much. 

35 


MY    \AVAL   CAREKR 

But  to  return  to  my  story. 

Night  attacks  by  single  ships,  or  two  or  three 
in  company,  were  occasionally  made  on  the  sea 
batteries,  in  which  we  at  times  took  part.  Lights 
were  placed  on  buoys  laid  down  for  the  purpose 
of  guiding  the  ships  where  to  go,  and  we  steamed 
in  a  curve  in  front  of  the  harbour,  delivering  one 
or  two  broadsides  towards  the  town  ;  and  as  we 
did  so  our  ships  were  occasionally  hit  by  the 
return  fire. 

The  Valorous  was  the  first  ship  to  make  a  night 
attack,  and  one  of  her  shells  passed  through  the 
room  in  which  the  famous  General  Todleben  was 
sleeping. 

On  the  night  of  i8th  June,  Captain  Lyons, 
of  the  Miranda,  the  son  of  Sir  Edmund,  while  so 
engaged  was  severely  wounded  in  the  leg,  and 
died  a  few  days  after.  This  was  a  terrible  grief 
to  our  beloved  Admiral. 

Early  in  April  we  were  sent  to  assist  in  laying 
the  submarine  electric  telegraph  cable  from  Varna 
to  St.  George's  Monastery,  the  western  point  of 
the  Crimea.  In  those  days  submarine  cables  were 
rare  things. 

Off  Cape  Kaliakra  we  lay  several  days,  and 
used  to  visit  there  the  ruins  of  a  grand  old  Genoese 
castle,  built  on  a  high  rocky  point — a  relic  of 
the  long-departed  power  of  Genoa. 

Early  in  May  we  accompanied  the  first  expedi- 
tion towards  Kertch,  the  objects  being  to  take 
that  place,  enter  the  Sea  of  Azoff,  destroy  Russian 
stores  of  food  and  do  all  we  could  to  prevent 
supplies  reaching  Sevastopol  from  that  direction. 

36 


KERTCH  EXPEDITION— IN  THE  TRENCHES 

This  expedition,  owing  to  the  fickleness  of 
General  Canrobert,  the  French  Commander-in- 
Chief,  was  recalled  before  it  got  to  the  Straits 
of  Yenkale  at  the  entrance  of  the  Sea  of  Azoff. 

On  General  Pelissier  succeeding  to  the  command 
of  the  French  army  a  second  Kertch  expedition 
was  at  once  arranged.  We  carried  French  troop 
horses.  The  expedition  consisted  of  about  15,000 
troops,  which  were  landed  without  opposition  on 
24th  May.  In  fact  our  force  was  overwhelming 
compared  to  the  enemy's. 

Kertch  was  pillaged  and  looted  by  the  allies. 
I  remember  entering  its  museum  ;  the  building 
was  still  standing,  but  its  contents  destroyed  or 
taken  away.  Outside  the  doors  was  the  inscription 
in  French  to  the  effect  that  we  were  at  war  with 
the  present  and  not  with  antiquity,  &c.  The 
notice  taken  of  it  was  to  carry  off  what  people 
could,  and  smash  the  rest.  This,  however,  was 
only  in  keeping  with  what  has  usually  happened 
in  war. 

The  Sea  of  Azoff  is  very  shallow,  and  is  getting 
shallower  by  degrees.  Our  light  vessels  went 
into  it  and  did  what  destruction  they  could. 

Off  Sevastopol,  at  times  during  the  summer 
of  1855,  I  and  others  got  leave  to  visit  the  camps 
for  a  few  days  and  to  go  into  the  trenches.  This 
was,  of  course,  a  great  treat  for  us.  I  used  to  stay 
with  the  93rd  Sutherland  Highlanders,  a  splendid 
set  of  men  to  my  recollection,  and  their  brigade 
was  under  the  command  of  no  less  a  man  than 
Colin  Campbell,  the  future  Lord  Clyde. 

In  the  Crimea  for  most  of  the  time,  at  least 

37 


MY   NAVAL   CARKER 

until  wooden  huts  came  out,  the  regimental 
officers'  messes  did  not  exist.  A  few  of  the 
officers,  some  five  or  six,  formed  a  scratch  mess 
and  fared  as  best  they  could.  I  remember  the 
names  of  those  I  used  to  stay  with.  Some  were 
killed  in  the  Mutiny  in  India,  and  I  fear  all 
have  died  ere  now. 

The  guard  of  the  trenches  was  changed  every 
evening,  for  twenty-four  hours  ;  this  was  in  order 
that  they  might  be  as  fresh  as  possible  during 
the  night,  when  of  course  sorties  from  the  city 
usually  took  place. 

Some  midshipmen  used  to  try  and  raise  their 
uniform  caps  on  sticks  above  the  parapet  of  the 
trench  hoping  the  Russian  sharpshooters  might 
send  bullets  through  them,  so  that  the  caps  would 
show  the  narrow  escape  they  had  had.  This, 
however,  was  not  approved,  as  likely  to  draw  fire 
on  the  trenches.  In  wet  weather  the  trenches 
were  misery,  the  choice  at  times  being  between 
standing  in  water,  or  getting  no  shelter. 

On  i8th  June  took  place  the  first  great  assault 
on  the  city,  preceded  by  a  heavy  bombardment 
from  the  allied  land  batteries.  The  ships  were 
many  of  them  under  way  off  the  harbour,  and 
I  believe  their  bombarding  was  arranged  for,  but 
prevented  by  the  stormy  wind  blowing  in. 

We  knew  an  assault  was  to  take  place,  but, 
though  we  could  hear  heavy  firing  going  on, 
we  did  not  till  next  morning  know  that  we  had 
all  been  defeated,  the  French  beaten  off  from  the 
Malakoff  and  Bastion  du  Mat,  and  the  English 
from  the  Great  Redan. 

38 


DEATH  OF  LORD  RAGLAN— DISPOSITION  OF  FORCES 

Jn  28th  June  Lord  Raglan  died,  his  death,  I 
believe,  partly  caused  by  anxiety,  and  by  grief 
at  our  repulse  in  the  assault  of  the  i8th.  His 
local  funeral  was  a  great  ceremony,  consisting 
of  the  embarkation  of  his  body  in  H.M.S.  Caradoc 
for  conveyance  to  England.^ 

From  June  to  September  the  siege  went  on 
without  any  very  special  incident.  The  leading 
spirit  was  the  French  Commander-in-Chief, 
partly  from  his  commanding  temperament,  but 
also  because  the  French  army  greatly  outnumbered 
ours,  being  about  double  our  force  in  numbers, 
and  they  had  in  consequence  three-quarters  of 
the  whole  land  attack,  that  is  all  the  left,  or 
western,  half  of  it,  and  the  extreme  right,  or 
eastern,  quarter  ;  we  keeping  the  quarter  between 
the  French  trenches. 

This  placed  us  still  opposite  the  Redan,  the 
French  being  opposed  to  the  Malakoff  on  the 
right,  and  to  the  Bastion  du  Mat,  or  central  bastion, 
on  the  left.  I  believe  that  either  of  the  above 
three  places  if  taken  singly,  and  held,  would  have 
meant  the  fall  of  the  city. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  siege  the  allies' 
mortar  fire  was  much  increased  and  was  most 
efficacious.  Our  siege  batteries  too  had  increased 
from  a  total  of  about  80  guns  at  the  beginning 
to  about  200  before  the  end.     But  the  French 

'  General  Pelissier  on  hearing  of  Lord  Raglan's  death  at  once 
repaired  to  his  headquarters,  and  there  standing  by  the  side  of 
the  departed  soldier,  who  in  early  hfe  had  often  fought  against 
the  French,  and  had  lost  his  arm  at  '  King-making  Waterloo,' 
the  French  Commander-in-Chief,  a  man  of  iron  in  the  field,  shed 
tears  over  the  remains  of  his  lamented  colleague. 

39 


MY    NAVAL   CARKKR 

had  done  much  more,  and  from  60  guns  on  i7tli 
October  1854  ^i3.d  now  over  300  on  their  original 
left-hand  attack,  and  on  our  right  had  260  ;  or 
nearly  600  in  all. 

The  Russians,  who  also  used  mortars,  had  two 
of  15  inches,  our  largest  being  13-inch  ones.  The 
15-inch  shell  passing  overhead  made  a  whistling 
sound  owing,  I  believe,  to  the  rings  for  lifting 
them  up  cutting  the  air.  I  have  heard  them.  The 
men  gave  those  mortars  in  consequence  the  name 
of  '  Whisthng  Dick.' 

The  end  was  now  near,  and  an  assault  on  8th 
September  was  decided  on.  On  3rd  September  all 
plans  were  settled. 

As  regards  the  Fleet  it  was  intended  they 
should  be  off  the  harbour  on  the  8th  and,  perhaps, 
bombard  ;  for  the  same  object  as  previousl}-,  viz. 
to  keep  the  sea  forts  manned,  but  in  view  of  the 
allies  penetrating  into  the  town,  the  question  of 
fire  from  our  ships  became  a  difftcult  one.  When 
the  day  came,  however,  it  was  blowing  in  too 
hard  from  seaward  to  manoeuvre  the  ships  under 
the  forts. 

The  preliminary  bombardment  from  the  bat- 
teries began  on  5th  September  and  continued  on 
the  6th  and  7th.  It  was  heavier  than  any  pre- 
vious one,  and  seemed  quite  to  dominate  the 
Russian  fire.  In  those  three  days  they  are  said 
to  have  lost  4000  men. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  French  should  first 
storm  the  Malakoff,  and  if  they  succeeded  make 
a  signal,  on  seeing  which  we  should  storm  the 
Redan. 

40 


STORMING  THE  REDAN— FALL  OF  SEVASTOPOL 

At  noon  (on  the  8th)  the  French  made  their 
attack,  and  got  into  the  Malakoff ;  the  Russians 
were  somewhat  taken  by  surprise,  and  fought 
furiously  to  turn  their  enemy  out,  but  could  not. 
I  believe  the  Malakoff  was  a  complete  fort  all 
round,  and  not  open  to  the  rear,  which  made  it 
harder  for  them  to  pour  in  reinforcements.  The 
taking  of  the  Malakoff  effected  the  capture  of 
Sevastopol. 

At  about  12.10  we  made  our  rush  for  the 
Redan,  but  two  things  were  against  us  which 
the  French  had  not.  First  the  distance  from 
their  advanced  trench  to  the  position  was  only 
about  thirty  paces, ^  while  we  had  200  yards  of 
the  open  to  cross  ;  second,  the  Russians  were  now 
all  on  the  alert. 

Some  of  our  soldiers  got  into  the  Redan,  but 
reinforcements  of  the  enemy  drove  them  out 
again.  I  think  the  siege  of  Sevastopol  may  be 
fairly  and  shortly  summed  up  thus : 

1.  Neither  we  nor  the  French  could  have 
done  it  alone. 

2.  The  English  mainly  bore  the  brunt  of 
the  field  battles. 

3.  The  French  took  Sevastopol. 

As  soon  as  the  Russians  found  they  could  not 
retake  the  Malakoff,  they  decided  to  evacuate 
the  south  side  (i.e.  the  city)  and  retreat  to  the 
north  side  by  the  bridge  of  boats  which  they  had 
completed  by  the  end  of  August. 

This  they  did  in  remarkably  good  order,  having 

*  I  have  stood  on  the  IMalakolT  parapet  and  talked  easily  to 
a  man  on  the  French  advanced  trench  position. 

41 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

set  fire  to  the  city  and  forts  in  it,  blown  up  the 
latter,  and  destroyed  the  dry  docks. 

The  defence  of  Sevastopol  was  splendid  and 
I  doubt  if  in  any  other  siege  it  has  been  surpassed. 
I  have  often  spoken  of  it  to  Russians,  whom  I  have 
always  found  justly  proud,  and  ready  to  talk,  of  it. 
The  morning  of  the  9th  showed  the  city  obscured 
by  heavy  smoke  from  the  conflagration,  and  lit 
up  with  occasional  explosions. 

I  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting  the  lines  and 
the  city  of  Sevastopol  soon  after  its  capture,  and 
it  was  of  course  most  interesting.  Anyone  doing 
so  felt  admiration  for  its  defenders.  The  town 
was  a  ruin.  The  bastions — so  called  by  the 
Russians — thrown  up  for  the  land  defence  in 
many  cases  had  a  platform  of  heavy  beams,  or 
timber,  on  which  the  guns  were  placed,  and  under- 
neath were  sort  of  subterranean  passages  and 
chambers,  in  which  the  men  could  find  some  rest 
and  shelter,  while  still  close  to,  in  case  of  a  sudden 
assault. 

Coming  out  of  the  town  late  one  evening  with 
a  messmate  of  mine  we  were  caught  in  the  dark 
and  lost  our  way  ;  the  rain  began  to  fall.  My 
messmate  gave  it  up  as  a  bad  job,  lay  down  and 
said  he  would  stay  there.  I  was  very  tired,  too, 
and  could  not  carry  him  ;  but  luckily  found  some 
privates  of  the  ist  Royals  who  carried  him  to 
their  camp,  where  we  slept  in  a  bell  tent,  some 
dozen  in  all,  feet  to  the  pole  in  the  middle,  and 
heads  to  the  side,  with  one  knapsack  for  our  two 
heads. 

Vermin    infested    the    whole    camp,    officers' 

42 


CAPTURE  OF  KINBURN 

quarters  as  well  as  the  men's.  These  soldiers 
were  most  kind  to  us ;  money  they  would  not  take, 
but  we  afterwards  managed  to  send  them  a  case 
of  wine,  &c. 

On  1 6th  September  we  took  to  Odessa  the 
Russian  officer  who  had  been  in  charge  of  St. 
George's  Monastery  near  Cape  Khersonese  and 
his  family,  who  had  in  fact  been  our  prisoners. 
With  them  went  Major  Biddulph,  R.A.,  who 
though  in  charge  of  them  was  himself  captivated 
by  a  young  lady  of  the  family,  whom  he  afterwards 
married. 

The  next  operation  was  the  taking  of  Kinburn, 
which  was  a  fort  built  on  a  low  narrow  spit  of 
land  running  out  west-north-west  and  defending 
the  entrance  of  the  Bay  of  Kherson,  into  which 
ran  the  River  Dnieper,  up  which  is  Nicholaief 
where  all  the  Black  Sea  men-of-war  were  built. 

Kinburn  itself  was  a  stone  fort  with  case- 
mates, and  beyond  it  on  the  spit  were  two  separate 
earthwork  batteries. 

On  17th  October  we  bombarded  the  place ; 
our  force  was  perfectly  overwhelming  and  in  less 
than  an  hour  the  Russian  fire  was  silenced  and 
the  place  forced  to  surrender.  About  1300 
soldiers,  75  guns,  and  many  mortars  were  taken. 

The  French  had  some  floating  batteries  with 
ironclad  sides  engaged  on  the  nth;  it  was  the  first 
occasion  of  ironclads  being  in  action. 

We  then  returned  to  Kazatch  near  Sevastopol, 
after  which  we  had  very  cold  and  trying  work  in 
embarking  troops  and  horses  at  Eupatoria. 

On    1 6th  December   we   left   the  Crimea  for 

43 


MY    NAVAL   CAREER 

the  Mediterranean,  and  first  visiting  Athens  and 
Smyrna,  went  to  Malta  and  lay  there  four  months. 

On  arrival  we  youngsters  felt  quite  rich  with 
our  allowance  that  could  not  be  spent  in  the 
Crimea,  but  money  soon  burns  a  hole  in  a  mid- 
shipman's pocket,  and  our  riding  and  driving 
about  the  island  had  to  give  way  to  walking.  In 
those  days  games  were  not  arranged  for  as  they 
are  now,  and  their  provision  has  been  a  great  boon 
to  all  ofhcers. 

While  at  Malta  we  were  docked  and  our 
bottom  repaired  from  the  serious  injury  done 
to  it  when  we  were  on  the  shoal  in  August  1854.1 
It  was  remarkable  that  the  ship  had  stood 
it  so  well,  the  Teredo  navalis  (a  sea-worm)  had 
eaten  many  holes  in  our  timbers  where  the  copper 
had  been  knocked  off.  This  same  worm  was  found 
to  have  greatly  damaged  the  Russian  ships  sunk 
in  the  harbour  of  Sevastopol. 

Early  in  June  1856  we  returned  to  the  Crimea. 
The  armistice  was  now  on,  and  much  friendly 
intercourse  was  exchanged  between  the  allies 
and  the  Russians. 

I  visited  the  north  side  of  Sevastopol,  which 
was  very  interesting,  especially  to  see  Fort  Con- 
stantine,  and  go  into  the  '  Wasp  '  batter}^  on  the 
north  cliff,  with  which  we  had  often  exchanged 
shots  ;  and  to  see  the  marks  of  shell  on  some  of 
the  gun  carriages,  which  might  have  been  caused 
by  the  fire  from  our  ship.  The  Russians  were  very 
friendly  and  some  were  wearing  their  richly  earned 
Crimean  medal. 

1  See  p.  IS- 

44  ^ 


HOMEWARD  BOUND 

The  evacuation  of  the  Crimea  by  the  allies 
was  now  proceeding. 

On  15th  June  we  finally  left  the  Crimea,  with 
some  Royal  Artillery  on  board,  and  towing  the 
Queen,  a  three-decker  of  116  guns,  on  her  way  home 
also  with  troops  on  board.  We  were  now  '  home- 
ward bound  '  and  occasionally  passed  other  ships 
with  bands  playing  '  Home,  Sweet  Home,'  almost 
at  times  the  most  pathetic  of  tunes.  On  19th 
July  we  reached  Sheerness,  and  on  2nd  August 
we  were  paid  off,  thus  ending  a  not  uneventful 
commission. 


45 


CHAPTER  V 

H.M.S.  CRUIZER 
Age  retirement — Voyage  to  China — Gunboats. 

Six  weeks'  leave  soon  passed,  but  it  was  as 
much  holiday  as  a  midshipman  could  expect 
between  commissions.  My  uncle,  Rear-Admiral 
Sir  Michael  Seymour,  was  then  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  China,  East  India,  and  Australian 
stations,  which  in  those  days  were  all  combined 
together. 

Owing  to  there  being  no  age  retirement  the 
flag-officers  were  mostly  elderly  men  ;  the  Mediter- 
ranean station  generally  had  a  vice-admiral  as 
commander-in-chief,  but  the  other  foreign 
stations  only  a  rear-admiral,  or  not  seldom  a 
commodore  of  the  first  class,  in  order  to  get 
young  enough  men. 

My  uncle  being  the  Admiral  in  China  it  was 
natural  I  should  wish  to  join  his  flagship,  to 
which  I  was  therefore  appointed,  and  was  ordered 
to  go  out  in  H.M.S.  Cruizer. 

The  Cruizer  was  a  full  ship  rigged  sloop,  of 

46 


THE  MIDSHIPMEN'S  MESS 

about  750  tons,  with  an  auxiliary  screw  able  to 
drive  her  for  a  short  time  at  6  knots  or  so  in  a 
calm.  She  carried  17  light  32-pounders  and  had 
a  complement  of  165.  Her  commander  was  Charles 
Fellowes,  a  first-rate  seaman. 
F'  I  joined  her  at  Portsmouth  in  September 
1856,  and  at  a  little  over  16  years  old  found  myself 
the  senior  officer  of  the  midshipmen's  mess,  which 
contained  ten  of  us  in  all. 

I  think  no  one  knew  any  of  the  others  when 
we  started,  but  we  soon  found  that  law  and  order 
were  not  our  prevailing  characteristics  ;  and  long 
before  we  reached  China  the  mess-traps  were 
nearly  all  broken,  and  what  was  called  a  *  radical 
mess '  prevailed. 

All  ships  commanded  by  officers  above  the 
rank  of  lieutenant  in  those  days  carried  mid- 
shipmen. 

L'  S'The  Cruizer  was  a  first-rate  specimen  of  how 
utterly  youngsters  were  disregarded  and  neglected 
as  to  their  instruction  or  care  of  any  sort  ;  and 
of  their  behaviour,  so  long  as  they  did  the  work, 
deck,  boat,  or  aloft,  that  was  required  of  them. 
The  results  were,  of  course,  often  most  unfortunate, 
and  the  percentage  of  those  who  came  to  grief 
was  far  larger  than  is  ever  known  now. 

fOf  my  messmates  in  that  ship  three  at  least 
were  turned  out  of  the  service,  and  only  one 
besides  myself  ever  became  a   commander. 

We  had  to  convoy  to  China  three  gunboats, 
the  first  that  were  ever  sent  abroad.  They  were 
small  vessels  of  60  horse-power  with  one  screw  and 
three  masts,  the  foremast  regularly  stepped,  the  two 

47 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

after  fixed  in  '  tabernacles.'  They  had  only  fore 
and  aft  standing  sails,  and  a  square  foresail. 

Their  dimensions,  &c.,  were  as  follows  : 
Tonnage,  319  ;  length,  94  feet ;  draft  of  water, 
7  to  8  feet  ;  highest  speed,  7  to  8  knots  ;  arma- 
ment, two  32-pounders  of  56  cwt.  and  two 
brass  12-pounders  6  cwt.  howitzers.  Their  com- 
plement was  30.  The  officers  were  a  lieutenant, 
a  second  master,  and  two  engineers.  As  a  lieu- 
tenant I  have  had  casual  command  of  more  than 
one  of  them  and  they  were  the  handiest  vessels 
I  ever  knew. 

The  cables  were  worked  by  a  deck  tackle;  if 
weighing  in  a  crowded  harbour  3'ou  hove  short, 
nearly  up  and  down,  then  fleeted  the  deck  tackle 
to  the  bows,  manned  it,  gave  the  order, '  Away  with 
the  tackle,  full  speed  ahead,  hard  over  the  helm,' 
and  she  turned  almost  as  if  she  pivoted  on  her 
fore  foot. 

These  vessels  with  us  were  the  Haughty,  the 
Staunch,  and  the  Forester.  The  Haughty  was 
commanded  by  the  present  Admiral  Sir  R.  Vesey 
Hamilton,  G.C.B.,  than  whom  no  officer  is  more 
generally  respected  and  liked  in  the  Navy. 

The  Cruizer  went  first  to  Plymouth,  where  the 
gunboats  awaited  her,  and  starting  w^ith  them 
put  into  Falmouth  for  bad  weather.  We  sailed 
from  there  on  29th  September  1856  and  reached 
Hong-Kong  on  29th  April  1857,  just  seven  months' 
voyage  from  England.  We  called  at  Teneriffe, 
Rio  Janeiro,  the  Cape,  Anger  Point  in  Java,  and 
Singapore. 

Off  Cape  Frio  at  about  2  a.m.  we  had  a  bad 

48 


RIO  DE  JANEIRO 

collision  with  a  merchant  barque,  which  kept  us 
three  weeks  at  Rio  for  repairs.  The  smash  roused 
everyone  up  pretty  effectually.  Our  *  master ' 
(now  called  navigating  officer),  an  elderly  man  for 
his  position,  and  perhaps  uncertain  of  his  reckoning, 
ran  on  deck  saying,  '  We  are  on  Cape  Frio,'  which 
is  where  the  Thetis  was  lost  in  1830  on  her  way 
home  from  the  Pacific  with  $800,000  freight  on 
board  ;  a  very  interesting  account  of  this  will  be 
found  in  the  life  of  Admiral  Sir  William  Mends. 

To  return  to  our  happily  more  trifling  collision, 
the  interval  between  seeing  the  barque  and  striking 
her  was  so  short  that  the  look-out  on  the  star- 
board bow  gun  could  only  just  call  out  and  jump 
off  it,  when  the  gun  was  overboard. 

This  memoir  pretends  not  to  do  justice  to 
splendid  scenery,  nor  ventures  humbly  to  imitate 
'  Tom  Cringle,'  whose '  log '  is  probably  unsurpassed 
in  its  description  of  tropical  scenery  and  storms. 
Were  it  otherwise  Rio  de  Janeiro  would  certainly 
inspire  me.  But  probably  I  was  most  interested 
in  visiting  the  tomb  of  my  grandfather,  Admiral 
Sir  Michael  Seymour,  who  died  while  Commander- 
in-Chief  on  the  South  American  and  Pacific  stations 
with  his  flag  in  H.M.S.  Spartiate,  and  was  buried 
at  Rio.  In  those  days  the  station  included  all 
the  east  coast  of  South  America,  and  the  Pacific 
coasts  of  both  North  and  South  America. 

When  we  landed,  or  came  off,  in  hired  shore 
boats,  they  were  pulled  by  black  slaves  chained 
to  the  thwarts  to  prevent  their  escaping. 

From  Rio  we  proceeded  to  Simon's  Bay, 
then,     as     now,     our     naval     headquarters     in 

19 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

South  Africa.  We  there  met  the  Raleigh,  a  50- 
gun  frigate  commanded  by  Commodore  Sir  Henry 
Keppel,  afterwards  Admiral  of  the  Fleet,  on  her 
way  also  to  China. 

While  at  Simon's  Bay  I  and  others  went  up  to 
Cape  Town  by  road  ;    no  railway  then  existing 
in  Africa,  south  of  Cairo.     The  well-known  half- 
way house  of  Rathfelter  with  its  quaint  inscrip- 
tion was  then  in  its  glory — the  inscription  being  : 
Multum  in  parvo  pro  bono  publico, 
Entertainment  for  man  and  beast  all  in  a  row, 
Lakker  host  as  much  as  you  please, 
Very  good  beds  without  any  fleas  ! 
Nos  patriam  fugimus,  now  we  are  here 
Vivamus,  let  us  live  by  selling  beer, 
On  donne  a  boire  et  a  manger  ici 
Come  in  and  try  it  whoever  you  be. 

Our  next  port  was  Anger  Point  in  Java,  the 
south  side  of  the  Straits  of  Sunda,  a  place  then 
called  at  by  nearly  all  ships  out  to,  and  homeward 
from,  China  in  the  pre-Suez  Canal  days  ;  and 
where  any  amount  of  poultry  and  eggs  could  be  got. 

Our  voyage  to  China  was  made  nearly  all 
under  sail  only,  at  which  the  gunboats  were  very 
poor  hands,  but,  perhaps,  equal  to  the  ships  of 
Columbus. 

Our  gunboats  frequently  parted  company ; 
sometimes  we  towed  them,  or  when  we  did  not 
were  reminded  of  the  lines  of  the  noble  poet : 

What  leagues  are  lost  before  the  dawn  of  day 
Thus  loitering  pensive  on  the  willing  seas 
The  flapping  sail  hauled  down  to  halt  for  logs  like  these.* 
Life  on  board  was  diversified  by  more  quarter- 
deck differences  than  I  have  known  in  my  later 

50 


ARRIVAL  AT  HONG-KONG 

ships  ;  opinions  afloat  differ  as  much  as  ashore, 
and  the  too  close  proximity  of  people  not  wholly 
in  agreement  magnifies  their  idiosyncrasies. 

Over  these  I  will  draw  a  veil,  and  only  remark 
that  I  fear  we  in  the  midshipmen's  berth  (then 
so  called)  were  a  rowdy  set,  and  I  no  better  than 
the  rest.  But  our  offences  were  but  boyish 
freaks,  and  in  after  life  I  reckoned  our  Captain  as 
one  of  my  greatest  friends,  and  when  he  died 
in  command  of  the  Channel  Fleet  I  in  company 
with  many  others  greatly  grieved  for  his  loss. 

We  were  favoured  with  the  first  of  the  south- 
west monsoons  up  the  China  Sea,  and  arriving 
at  Hong-Kong  on  29th  April  found  there  H.M.S. 
Calcutta  with  the  Admiral  on  board. 


51  Kt 


CHAPTER  VI 


H.M.S.   CALCUTTA 


The  Arrow  Lorcha  War  at  Canton — Fatshan  Creek  Action — 
Capture  of  Canton — Viceroy  Yeh — Move  to  the  North — 
Capture  of  Taku  Forts — Tiensin. 

On  30th  April  1857  I  joined  H.M.S.  Calcutta,  flag- 
ship of  Rear-Admiral  of  the  White — Sir  Michael 
Seymour,  K.C.B. 

At  that  time  the  three  colours  for  admirals' 
flags — red,  white  and  blue — still  existed.  On 
promotion  to  a  new  rank  either  rear-,  vice-,  or 
(full)  admiral  an  officer  first  hoisted  the  blue 
flag,  for  the  next  advancement  in  his  grade  the 
white,  and  in  the  upper  grade  of  it  the  red. 
The  advantage  of  this  was  that  if  the  fleet  were 
very  large,  it  might  be  divided  into  three  divisions 
each  flying  an  ensign  of  a  different  colour  for 
distinction.  Commodores  of  the  first  class  flew  a 
red  swallow-tail  '  burgee '  and  ensign,  the  commo- 
dores of  the  second  class  a  blue  one. 

The  Calcutta  was  a  sailing  two-decker  of  84 
guns,  built  in  India  of  teak.  Her  figure-head 
represented  Sir  Jamsetjee  Jejeebho^^.  and  was 
a  very  fierce-looking  thing. 

52 


ARROW  AFFAIR  AT  CANTON 

Teak  is  hard  and  durable,  but  slippery  to 
stand  on  when  wet  ;  so  hard  that  I  have  heard 
my  former  Captain,  McCleverty,  who  was  a  mid- 
shipman in  the  Asia  at  Navarino,  say  that  some 
of  the  Turkish  shot  stuck  in  her  sides,  she  being 
a  sister  ship  to  the  Calcutta,  and  also  built  of  teak. 

It  was  a  great  change  to  the  Calcutta  as  a 
much  larger  ship,  and  to  a  mess  of  about  forty 
young  officers. 

In  those  days  the  lieutenants'  mess  was 
variously  called  a  wardroom  if  in  a  line-of-battle 
ship,  a  gunroom  if  in  a  frigate  or  smaller  vessel ; 
while  the  midshipmen's  mess  was  called  the 
gunroom  if  in  a  liner,  but  the  midshipmen's 
berth  in  all  other  ships.  The  origin  of  the  term 
'  gunroom,'  I  believe,  is  that  originally  the  sea- 
men's muskets  were  kept  there  among  the  officers' 
for  safety. 

I  am  very  fond  of  sa^dng,  *  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  trifle  till  you  know  its  results.' 

On  8th  October  1856  the  Arrow,  Lorcha, 
flying  British  colours,  arrived  at  Canton  and  was 
boarded  by  Chinese  officials,  who  hauled  down 
and  insulted  our  flag  and  carried  off  most  of  the 
crew.  And  the  above  action  on  the  part  of  some 
petty  custom-house  officers  led  to  the  very 
important  events  in  China  during  the  next  few 
years. 

Consul  Parkes  (afterwards  Sir  Harry  Parkes), 
who  was  our  very  able  representative  at  Canton, 
at  once  took  the  matter  up.  Yeh,  the  Viceroy 
of  Kwang-Tung,  would  give  no  satisfaction,  and 
so  the  Consul  referred  it  to  Sir  John  Bowring, 

53 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

our  Governor  of  Hong-Kong.  It  was  then  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  naval  Commander-in-Chief 
to  deal  with. 

Sir  Michael  Seymour  at  once  took  action,  and  the 
Canton  River  was  blockaded.  The  British  factories 
at  Shameen  (Canton)  were  burnt  by  the  Chinese, 
and  much  fighting  ensued,  the  blockade  of  Canton 
by  us  continued,  and  in  May  1857  the  Admiral 
only  waited  reinforcements  for  further  action. 

I  wish  here  to  remark  that  this  book  has  no 
pretence  to  be  in  any  way  the  history  of  public 
events,  but  only  a  simple  memoir  of  my  life. 

H.M.S.  Raleigh,  referred  to  above,  had  been 
wrecked  by  striking  on  an  unknown  rock  off 
Macao  on  her  arrival  in  China. 

It  then  took  nearly  three  months  to  get  an 
answer  from  England,  and  the  Admiral  on  his 
own  responsibility  retained  Commodore  KeppeP 
in  command,  and  utilised  him  and  his  officers 
and  men  in  various  ways  in  the  squadron. 

At  the  end  of  May  it  was  decided  to  attack 
the  Chinese  fleet  of  Mandarin  junks  lying  up  the 
Fatshan  creek,  partly  protected  b}^  their  own 
guns  and  also  by  a  fort  on  Hyacinth  Island. 

This  promised  to  be  a  very  interesting  affair, 
as  it  in  fact  turned  out  ;  it  was  to  be  done  by  the 
boats  of  the  squadron  supported  as  far  as  the 
water  permitted  by  the  newly  arrived  gunboats ; 
by  the  Coromandel,  a  paddle  -  wheel  merchant 
steamer  bought  into  the  service  by  the  Admiral 
and  armed  ;    and  by  two  paddle-wheel   steamers 

'  The  late  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  the  Hon.  Sir  Henry  Keppel, 
G.C.B.,  O.M. 

54 


ACTION  IN  THE  CANTON  RIVER 

called  the  Hong-Kong  and  the  Sir  Charles  Forbes, 
hired  and  armed  and  commanded  respectively 
by  Lieutenant  J.  G.  Goodenough  and  Lieutenant 
Lord  Gilford,  both  lately  in  the  Raleigh. 

The  above  armament  assembled  in  the  Canton 
River  by  the  evening  of  31st  May.  The  whole 
force  was  under  the  personal  command  of  the 
Admiral,  but  divided  into  two  divisions,  one  led 
by  Commodore  the  Hon.  Henry  Keppel  and  the 
other  by  Commodore  the  Hon.  Charles  Elliot  of 
H.M.S.  Sybille. 

As  regards  myself,  being  signal  midshipman 
I  belonged  to  no  boat,  but  I  was  of  course  most 
anxious  to  go,  so  I  begged  our  Captain  (W.  King 
Hall  1)  to  send  me,  and  he  being  a  very  kind 
man  did  so,  and  sent  me  in  our  launch  with 
Commander  W.  R.  Rolland  and  a  lieutenant. 

We  passed  the  night  on  board  a  gunboat,  and 
long  before  daylight  on  ist  June  were  moving, 
first  of  all  in  tow  of  the  gunboat.  In  those  days 
ships'  boats  were  only  propelled  by  oars  or  sails. 
Our  boat  pulled  18  oars  and  was  armed  with  a  24- 
pounder  brass  gun. 

The  Coromandel  with  the  flag  led,  and  first 
got  into  near  action  with  the  fort  on  Hyacinth 
Island,  which  was  finally  stormed  and  taken. 

The  Chinese  force  comprised  about  one  hundred 
well-armed  war  junks,  each  carrying  several  guns, 
and  with  stink-pots  up  aloft  to  throw  into  their 
enemy's  boats  when  close  to.  The  junks  were 
in  two  divisions,  the  lower  one  near  the  island,  the 
other  one  three  or  four  miles  higher  up. 

'  The  late  Admiral  Sir  William  King  Hall,  K.C.B. 
55 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

As  we  advanced  up  the  creek  the  gunboats 
one  after  another  grounded,  and  the  boats  had 
to  take  to  their  oars. 

It  was  very  exciting  thus  pulhng  up  tlie 
creek,  each  boat  trying  to  be  first,  the  men  cheering, 
and  the  enemy's  shot  flying  by  us.  I  was  sta- 
tioned by  the  gun  in  the  bows,  and  as  the  fire 
was  mostly  ricochet  the  shot  skipped  over  the 
water  like  what  are  called  '  ducks  and  drakes,' 
and  I  remember  thinking  that  with  a  cricket  bat 
one  might  almost  have  hit  them. 

I  have  always  thought  that  the  most  exciting 
thing  in  the  world  must  be  taking  part  in  a 
cavalry  charge  in  action,  but  to  be  in  a  boat 
propelled  by  oars,  among  other  boats,  the  men 
pulling  their  hardest,  shots  flying  by,  men  cheer- 
ing, and  guns  firing,  is  also  calculated  to  quicken 
the  pulses. 

After  a  bit  the  Hong-Kong,  which  was  leading 
us,  grounded  and  a  slight  check  ensued. 

Several  shot  now  struck  her  ;  but  her  Com- 
mander— afterwards  the  lamented  Commodore 
Goodenough — backed  her  off  the  shoal.  At  that 
moment  the  boats,  partly  to  get  out  of  her  way, 
turned  their  broadsides  to  the  enemy.  Commodore 
Keppel's  galley  was  knocked  to  pieces  and  sunk, 
the  Commodore  being  picked  up  by  my  cousin, 
Lieutenant  Michael  Culme-Seymour,  ^  in  our 
barge  ;  the  launch  in  which  I  was  at  the  same 
time  got  a  round  shot  through  her  which  sank 
her,  and  at  the  same  moment  also  an  officer  of 

'  Now  Sir  Michael  Culme-Seymour,  Bart.,  G.C.B.,  Vice-Admiral 
of  the  United  Kingdom. 

56 


DEFEAT  OF  THE  CHINESE 

the  Highftyer  was  cut  in  half  by  a  shot  and  his 
remains  thrown  over  us. 

This  ended  our  boat's  work  for  the  day  ;  our 
first  pinnace  with  a  lieutenant  and  midshipman  i 
in  her  ran  alongside  to  offer  us  assistance.  Mean- 
while the  Chinese  kept  up  a  hot  fire  and  also 
shouted  and  beat  their  gongs,  probably  thinking 
they  were  about  to  win  the  day.  But  British 
dash  prevailed,  and  so  ended  probably  the  hardest- 
fought  boat  action  since  the  French  War,  except 
it  may  be  the  attack  on  Lagos  in  Africa  in 
December  185 1. 

I  am  not  sure  our  Admiral  did  not  select  the 
1st  June  as  being  the  anniversary  of  Lord  Howe's 
glorious  victory,  in  which  my  grandfather,  the 
first  Admiral  Sir  Michael  Seymour,  being  then 
a  lieutenant  in  the  Marlborough,  lost  his  arm. 

The  Haughty  gunboat  commanded  by  Lieu- 
tenant R.  V.  Hamilton "  did  such  excellent  service 
on  this  occasion  that  the  Admiral  being  sent 
from  the  Admiralty  a  blank  commander's  com- 
mission to  give  to  whoever  he  chose,  gave  it  to 
Lieutenant  Hamilton. 

In  consequence  of  the  proceedings  at  Canton 
above  referred  to,  Lord  Elgin  was  sent  out  to 
China  as  plenipotentiary. 

He  arrived  at  Hong-Kong  on  27th  June  in 
H.M.S.  Shannon,  commanded  by  Captain  W. 
Peel.  About  this  time  the  Sepoy  Mutiny  broke 
out  in  India,  and  the  Admiral,  seeing  the  extreme 
seriousness  of  it,  at  once  sent  the  Shannon  and 

'  Now  Admiral  Sir  William  Kennedy,  K.C.B. 
^  Now  Admiral  Sir  Vesey  Hamilton,  G.C.B. 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

the  Pearl  to  Calcutta,  which  led  to  the  glorious 
doings  of  the  Naval  Brigade  under  their  gallant 
chief,  Captain  Sir  William  Peel. 

I  may  also  just  remark  how  fortunate  for  us 
it  was  that  some  regiments  en  route  to  China 
were  able  to  be  stopped  and  almost  at  once 
landed  in  India. 

The  rest  of  the  summer  passed  without  any 
special  incident  with  us,  and  as  winter  came  on 
we  moved  up  the  Canton  River  to  prepare  to  take 
Canton. 

We  anchored  off  Tiger  Island,  and  our  small 
arm  and  field-piece  parties  were  constantly  on 
shore  there,  drilling  and  preparing  for  our  coming 
small  campaign. 

I  was  attached  to  three  small  brass  Indian 
mountain  guns,  12  pounders  of  only  3  cwt.  each, 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  J.  G.  Good- 
enough,  late  of  the  Raleigh,  and  now  belonging 
to  the  Calcutta  ;  our  other  officer  being  A.  K. 
Wilson,^  then  a  midshipman. 

In  November  our  naval  brigades  left  the  ship, 
and  moved  up  to  Canton,  where  we  were  for  many 
days  lodged  in  a  large  ginger  store  belonging  to  a 
great  Chinese  merchant  called  Howqua,  in  the 
suburbs  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  opposite 
Canton. 

While  in  Howqua's  stores  I  remember  we 
midshipmen  by  lighting  a  bonfire  nearly  burnt 
down  one  of  the  stores  we  lived  in,  but  by  climb- 
ing on  the  roofs  and  using  a  supply  of  water  luckily 
kept  up  there,  the  fire  was  put  out. 

'  Now  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Sir  Arthur  Wilson.  V.C,  G.C.B. 

58 


ATTACK  ON  CANTON  CITY 

On  Christmas'^Day  iS^y'^l  dined  with  the 
Admiral  on  board  the  Coromandel,  and  well  re- 
member the  kindness  of  Captain  W.  T.  Bate  (of 
the  AcfcBon).  No  officer  was  more  respected  and 
liked  than  he  was,  and  his  death  four  days  later 
was  regretted  by  all  who  knew  him. 

On  the  29th  Captain  Bate,  who  was  with  the 
Admiral,  and  looking  for  a  good  place  to  attack 
the  walls,  was  killed  by  a  shot  from  them.  The 
troops  were  commanded  by  General  Van  Strau- 
benzie  ;  and  Lord  Elgin,  who  during  the  autumn 
had  been  at  Calcutta,  had  now  returned  to  con- 
duct his  duties  as  plenipotentiary  in  China. 

On  28th  December  we  were  taken  across  the 
river  and  landed  to  the  eastward  of  Canton  city 
and  slept  in  the  open  on  the  ground  for  the  night, 
on  the  hills  outside  it.  Next  day  we  stormed 
the  walls  and  gained  possession  of  them,  and  the 
question  now  was  what  to  do  next. 

In  1841,  when  our  forces  attacked  Canton,  we 
took  a  detached  fort  on  a  hill  outside  the  walls 
to  the  north-east  which  bears  with  us  the  name 
of  Cough's  fort,  because  General  Sir  Hugh  Gough 
was  in  command  of  the  troops  on  that  occasion. 
We  did  not  then  take  and  occupy  the  city,  but 
only  made  terms,  and  exacted  and  obtained  a 
ransom  of  five  million  dollars.  This  was  very 
well  in  its  way,  but  I  believe  the  Chinese  suc- 
ceeded in  making  out  to  their  Government,  and 
China  generally,  that  the  barbarians  failed  to 
take  Canton,  and  so  obtain  a  real  victory. 

On  the  present  occasion  we  did  not  intend 
there  should  be  any  delusion  about  it,  so  a  few 

59 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

days  after,  on  5th  January  1858,  we  left  the  walls 
and  entered  the  city. 

I  should  explain  that  the  walls  of  Canton  are 
both  extensive,  high,  and  massive,  the  sort  of 
walls  that  in  pre-artillery  days,  if  well  manned, 
would  have  been  very  difhcult  to  storm. 

Those  who  know  Canton  will  remember  the 
five-storey  pagoda  on  the  walls  at  the  north 
part  of  the  town,  and  the  hill  near  it,  also  inside 
the  walls,  called  *  Magazine  Hill,'  these  parts  of  the 
walls  we  occupied  at  first,  having  stormed  the 
walls  to  the  eastward  of  those  positions. 

The  Chinese  Governor  of  Canton  was  the 
celebrated  Yeh,  a  clever,  middle-aged,  strong- 
minded  Mandarin,  much  trusted  by  his  Emperor  ; 
and  who  was  said  to  have  cut  off  more  heads  than 
any  other  Viceroy.  He  was  credited  with  having 
had  100,000  cut  off.  His  yamen  or  palace  was  in 
the  middle  of  the  city. 

For  that  on  5th  January  our  advanced  force 
made,  guided  chiefly  by  Consul  Parkes,^  who, 
having  been  our  Consul  at  Canton,  and  knowing 
both  the  Chinese  and  their  language  well,  was 
the  very  man  for  the  occasion.  On  our  entering 
Yeh's  yamen,  one  or  two  Chinese  in  turn  came 
forward  and  said,  '  I  am  Yeh,'  but  Parkes,  who 
knew  pretty  well  what  Yeh  was  like  from  descrip- 
tion, waved  them  aside  and  pushed  on. 

Captain  A.  C.  Key,^  R.N.,  hurried  forward 
into  the  garden  behind  the  yamen ;  and  seeing  a 
stout  middle-aged  man  in  Mandarin's  dress  and 

'  Afterwards  Sir  Harry  Parkes. 
-  Afterwards  Admiral  Sir  Cooper  Key,  G.C.B. 
60 


CAPTURE  OF  VICEROY  YEH 

hat,  trying  to  escape  and  get  over  the  garden  wall, 
seized  him  by  the  pigtail,  and  compelled  him  to 
return  into  the  yamen.  Here  he  was  seated  in 
a  chair,  and  various  Chinamen  were  brought 
into  his  presence,  on  which  they  fell  down  and 
*  kow-towed,'  i.e.  prostrated  themselves  on  their 
hands  and  knees  and  beat  their  heads  on  the 
ground. 

This  and  other  inquiries  proved  the  captive 
to  be  Yeh,  a  point  very  important,  but  a  little 
hard  at  first  to  settle.  He  was  then  put  into  a 
sedan  chair  and  carried  off  as  our  prisoner. 

One  of  the  first  questions  put  to  him  was, 
Where  is  Mr.  Cowper  ?  I  must  explain  that  Mr. 
Cowper  owned  the  dry  dock  at  Whampoa,  on  the 
Canton  River,  some  fifteen  miles  below  Canton, 
where  he  lived  on  board  a  '  chop  '  or  floating 
houseboat.  The  previous  autumn  one  evening 
after  sunset  a  Chinese  snake  boat,  i.e.  one  pulling 
many  oars,  came  alongside,  and  the  man  in  charge 
of  it  said  he  had  an  important  letter  which  he  must 
deliver  only  into  Mr.  Cowper' s  own  hand. 

Mr.  Cowper  came  to  get  it;  the  Chinamen 
seized  his  hand,  pulled  him  into  the  boat,  and 
rowed  off  at  once,  and  he  was  never  heard  of 
again. 

Yeh  at  first  pretended  to  know  nothing  about 
the  above,  but  at  last  said  something  of  the  sort 
did  occur,  and  Mr.  Cowper  gave  a  good  deal  of 
trouble,  but  at  last  died.  His  son  ultimately 
had  a  money  compensation  from  the  Chinese 
Government. 

The  rest  of  Yeh's  story  is  soon  told.     He  was 

6i 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

sent  to  Calcutta  as  a  prisoner  of  state,  and  in 
April  1859  liG  died  there.  His  body  was  then 
brought  back  by  us  to  Canton,  but  the  Chinese 
said  they  did  not  want  it  as  he  had  been  degraded 
by  the  Emperor,  and  he  was  quietly  buried  ; 
possibly  on  the  same  island  in  the  Canton  River 
as  the  great  and  good  St.  Francis  Xavier.  Who 
knows  ? 

It  now  became  a  serious  question  what  further 
steps  to  take  in  order  that  our  dealings  with 
China  should  be  with  the  real  Government,  which 
alone  could  be  satisfactory. 

In  1793  Lord  Macartney  had  visited  Pekin 
as  our  ambassador,  and  had  an  audience  of  the 
Emperor,  and  in  1816  Lord  Amherst  had  gone 
there  on  a  like  mission.  The  former  embassy 
was  not  satisfactory  and  produced  no  good  results, 
in  which  the  latter  failed  even  more,  as  no  recep- 
tion of  our  ambassador  was  accorded. 

It  was  finally  decided  that  an  expedition 
should  go  north,  to  the  Gulf  of  Pechili  and  the 
mouth  of  the  Peiho  River,  and  try  to  get  into 
immediate  touch  with  the  Chinese  Government 
at  Pekin.  On  25th  March  1858  we  left  Hong- 
Kong  for  the  north,  still  having  the  last  of  the 
north-east  monsoon  to  contend  \vith.  In  April 
we  arrived  off  the  mouth  of  the  Peiho,  where  a 
considerable  squadron  of  our  own  ships  and 
gunboats  assembled,  as  well  as  a  small  French 
squadron,  with  their  Admiral's  flag  in  the 
Audacieuse. 

Our  ambassador.  Lord  Elgin,  lived  on  board 
the  Furious,  a  paddle-wheel  steam  frigate.     Even 

62 


CHINESE  DIPLOMACY— TAKU  FORTS 

then  the  water  was  so  shallow  off  the  river's 
mouth  that  the  larger  ships  had  to  lie  seven  or 
eight  miles  off  the  land,  which  being  very  low 
was  hardly  visible  except  from  aloft.  It  is 
growing  shallower  now. 

Negotiations  were  carried  on  for  many  days, 
and  attempts  made  to  get  leave  to  enter  the 
river,  ascend  it,  and  arrange  some  terms,  but 
these  failed.  The  spirit  of  Chinese  diplomacy 
has  always  been  procrastination. 

The  Taku  forts  then  were  almost  entirely  on 
the  south  side  of  the  river's  mouth,  consisting 
mostly  of  large  bastions  of  earth,  or  mud,  and  for 
those  days  heavily  armed  with  large  guns,  many 
made  of  brass.  Rifled  ordnance  was  practically 
non-existent  anywhere  then.  A  boom  of  many 
wooden  spars,  chains,  &c.,  was  fixed  across  the 
river  opposite  the  forts,  and  secured  with  large 
stakes  firmly  driven  into  the  bottom. 

I  got  leave  to  go  in  in  a  gunboat  a  few  days 
before  our  action,  when  one  of  the  pourparlers 
was  going  on.  It  was  curious  to  be  allowed  to 
come  in  close  in  front  of  the  forts,  but  many  of 
their  gunports  were  hidden  by  mantlets.  The 
front  of  the  fort  was  decorated  with  numberless 
flags,  and  a  brave  show  kept  up. 

Till  the  morning  of  the  20th  May  it  was  uncer- 
tain if  they  would,  or  would  not,  let  us  enter  the 
river,  but  failing  a  favourable  reply  then  we  had 
said  we  should  open  fire.  None  came,  and  so 
now  our  action  began. 

The  French  vessels  were  combined  with  ours  ; 
and  the  unusual  sight  was  seen  of  the  admirals 

63 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

ui  both  nations  going  into  action  on  board  the 
same  vessel,  viz.  the  Slaney  gunboat,  and  with 
their  flags  both  flying  at  the  same  masthead. 
Surely  a  novelty  ! 

The  Cormorant  being  the  largest  and  heaviest 
vessel  inside  the  bar  was  sent  first  to  charge  the 
boom,  which  she  did  and  broke  it.  She  was 
followed  by  the  rest  of  our  force,  most  of  the 
gunboats  towing  the  large  ship's  pulling  boats, 
filled  with  the  landing  parties.  Of  these,  I  was 
in  charge  of  a  pinnace. 

The  Chinese  kept  up  a  good  fire  on  us  as  we 
passed,  which  was  well  replied  to  by  our  side ; 
but  our  great  object  was  to  pass  the  forts,  and 
land  just  above,  and  then  to  storm  them,  as 
it  were,  on  their  flank.  This  to  a  considerable  de- 
gree we  accomplished,  and  carried  the  position. 

While  towing  in  past  the  forts  we  were  of 
course  much  exposed  to  their  fire,  and  some 
casualties  occurred.  I  remember  a  shot  passing 
through  a  boat  close  to  mine,  in  which  a  young 
seaman  had  lain  down  under  what  are  called 
the  stern  sheets ;  the  shot  must  have  very  narrowly 
missed  him,  and  as  he  did  not  reply  when 
called  to  I  thought  he  was  killed  ;  examination 
showed  he  had  escaped  any  injury,  but^^  was 
much  frightened. 

I  think  no  one  can  often  have  been  under  fire 
without  appreciating  that  some  people  value 
their  life  and  limbs  more  highly  than  others  do. 
Let  me  put  it  mildly  in  that  way. 

This  leads  on  to  the  question  of  rewards  for 
valour,  which  is  a  very  difficult  one.     I  know  some 

64 


ON  THE  PEIHO  RIVER 

officers  who  disapprove  of  the  institution  of  the 
Victoria  Cross,  about  which  I  feel  strongly  as 
follows  :  it  should  have  two  classes  or  degrees — 
the  first  and  highest  for  going  out  of  your  strict 
orders  to  do  something  of  extra  risk  that  positively 
assists  to  accomplish  the  service  in  hand  ;  and 
the  second  for  incurring  a  gratuitous  risk,  not 
interfering  of  course  with  your  proper  duty,  to 
save  a  comrade. 

There  is  a  rise  and  fall  of  tide  of  many  feet  in 
the  Peiho  River,  and  it  was  a  question  when  to 
attack  as  regarded  that.  Our  Admiral  wisely 
chose  the  first  of  the  flood,  which  meant  our  being 
lower  down  and  many  shots  passing  over  us,  as 
well  as  our  having  a  fair  current  helping  us  in, 
and  rising  tide  in  case  of  grounding. 

We  had  on  landing  to  wade  through  soft  mud 
quite  up  to  our  knees  ;  but  as  we  neared  the 
forts  the  Chinese  fell  back  and  ran  away,  their 
Mandarins  or  officers  setting  them  the  example. 

A  serious  explosion  occurred  in  the  forts,  per- 
haps owing  to  the  carpenter  warrant  officer  of  the 
Fury  smashing  with  a  hammer  a  large  chattie 
full  of  gunpowder  and  so  striking  a  spark.  He 
and  many  others  fell  victims  ;  and  the  sight  of 
the  terribly  injured  survivors,  some  with  clothes 
and  hair  gone  and  blackened  with  powder,  was 
shocking. 

The  next  move  was  to  go  up  the  Peiho  River 
to  Tiensin  and  then  see  what  would  follow. 
We  had  now  no  more  forts  to  stop  us,  and  in 
a  few  days  arrived  at  Tiensin.  To  the  Chinese 
we  must  have  been  an  extraordinary  sight,   as 

65 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

unless  some  of  the  older  people  could  remember 
Lord  Amherst,  who  forty-two  years  before  arrived 
in  a  ship  and  went  up  by  boat,  no  one  had 
ever  seen  an  '  Outer  Barbarian '  there,  still  less 
steamers. 

However,  the  Chinaman  is  not  very  demon- 
strative in  his  astonishment,  which  is  often 
confined  to  '  Ay  yah,  what  piecy  pidgeon 
that  ?  ' 

It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  at  the  end  of 
June  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at  Tiensin  by 
Lord  Elgin,  Baron  Gros  (on  the  part  of  the 
French),  and  a  Chinese  Mandarin  called  Keying, 
which  seemed  to  grant  all  that  we  required. 

No  doubt  the  Chinese  all  the  time  laughed 
in  their  sleeves  as  the  expression  is  (and  Chinese 
sleeves  are  loose  and  large),  and  with  their  usual 
policy  of  procrastination  said  to  themselves, 
'  We  shall  by  this  means  get  rid  of  the  ''  foreign 
devils "  for  the  present,  and  the  future  must 
look  after  itself.' 

I  was  in  my  boat  at  Tiensin,  I  and  her  crew 
sleeping  in  the  Coromandel;  the  weather  was  of 
course  very  hot,  and  the  sun  powerful. 

Our  Admiral  had  since  he  came  on  the  station 
allowed  officers  to  wear  a  special  sun  hat  made 
of  white  pith,  admirable  against  the  sun's  rays  ; 
but  I  foolishly  despised  it,  and  only  wore  a 
uniform  cap. 

The  result  was  to  me  a  sort  of  sunstroke,  and 
bad  fever,  necessitating  my  being  sent  down  to 
the  ship.  I  suppose  I  nearly  died,  though  I 
did    not    somehow    expect    to.      But    it    led    to 

66 


GENERAL  SUCCESS  OF  CALCUTTA  MIDSHIPMEN 

my  being  sent  to  the  Pique,  which  was  going 
home. 

I  was  very  sorry  to  end  my  service  under  the 
flag  of  my  uncle,  Sir  Michael  Seymour,  but  the 
medical  authorities  advised  my  going  home,  and 
as  all  prospect  of  further  fighting  just  then 
seemed — and  was — over,  it  perhaps  was  not 
quite  so  much  to  be  regretted. 

Promotion  in  the  China  Squadron  was  rapid 
at  that  time.  From  the  Calcutta  alone  while  I  was 
in  her,  one  commander  was  made  captain,  and 
five  lieutenants  were  made  commanders,  besides 
some  junior  promotions. 

But  I  cannot  leave  the  subject  of  the  Calcutta 
without  one  or  two  remarks  about  her.  Her 
midshipmen,  generally,  were  more  successful  in 
the  service  than  those  of  any  other  ship  I  ever 
heard  of.  About  seventeen  got  on  to  the  active 
list  of  captains,  and  at  least  eight  on  to  the  flag 
(or  admirals')  list.  In  after  years  on  one  day 
three  of  us  were  flying  our  flags  in  the  same 
harbour.  What  was  this  due  to  ?  I  will  not 
pronounce,  but  our  Captain,  W.  King  Hall,  took  a 
real  interest  in  his  youngsters,  who  also  had  the 
benefit  of  a  first-rate  naval  instructor,  the  present 
Professor  Sir  John  Laughton. 

I  also  look  back  with  extreme  respect  and 
affection  to  our  Commander,  the  late  Commodore 
Goodenough,  than  whose  example  no  one's  ever 
was  better,  or  impressed  me  so  much. 

We  were  devoted  to  him.  He  was  strict, 
however,  and  often  mastheaded  us,  or  put  us  in 
watch  and  watch  for  so  many  days,  i.e.  to  keep 

67  '  a 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

four  hours  on  deck  and  four  hours  below  alter- 
nately day  and  night.  This  with  our  other 
duty  was  no  joke.  But  he  was  always  just,  and 
acted  from  the  highest  principles,  and  this  we  all 
felt.  When  I  left  the  ship  he  wrote  me  a  letter 
that  gave  me  the  greatest  pleasure. 


68 


CHAPTER  VII 

H.M.S.  PIQUE,  MERSEY,  AND   IMPERIEUSE 

The  Pique — Long  China  Sea  Passage — Gale  of  Wind — The 
Mersey — I  pass  for  Rank  of  Lieutenant — A  Smart  Ship — The 
Imperieuse — Passage  to  China  by  Great  Circle  Track. 

From  the  Calcutta  off  the  Peiho  River  I  and  two 
other  midshipmen  from  that  ship  joined  H.M.S. 
Pique  for  passage  to  England.  The  Pique  was 
a  40-gun  saihng  frigate,  167  feet  in  length,  her 
main  trunk  being  about  the  same  height  above 
the  water,  and  with  a  complement  of  about 
three  hundred. 

She  was  a  '  Symondite'  vessel,  i.e.  she  was  built 
from  the  designs  of  Admiral  Symonds,  and  was 
first  commissioned  in  1835  to  try  her  then  new 
lines,  which  may  shortly  be  described  as  greater 
beam  than  former  ships  of  the  same  length,  and 
carrying  her  extreme  beam  well  above  the  water 
line. 

She  was  the  same  ship  that  in  1835  was  badly 
injured  by  grounding  on  the  coast  of  Labrador, 
and  then  crossed  the  Atlantic  with  a  rock  sticking 
in  her  bottom,  and  that  lost  her  masts  in  December 
1840  in  a  gale  of  wind  off  the  coast  of  Syria. 

69 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

Our  Captain  had  to  consider  how  he  could 
best  get  to  England,  having  the  prospect  of  the 
south-west  monsoon  in  its  full  force  against  us 
all  down  the  China  Sea.  In  view  of  this  it  is 
quite  possible  that  our  quickest  way  would  have 
been  to  cross  the  Pacific  and  go  home  round  Cape 
Horn,  but  the  usual  route  by  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  was  chosen,  with  the  result  that  we  were 
a  good  seven  months  on  our  way  home. 

We  sailed  from  the  Gulf  of  Pechili  early  in 
July  1858,  were  thirty  da3^s  beating  down  to 
Hong-Kong,  fifty  days  from  there  to  Singapore, 
and  twelve  days  thence  to  Anger  Point  in  Java. 
In  fact  you  might  say  we  were  over  three 
months  with  the  '  bow-lines  hauled,'  to  use  a 
nautical  expression.  But  probably  the  modern 
naval  officer  has  no  idea  what  a  bow-line  is  ! — 
or  was. 

On  joining  the  Pique  I  was  an  invalid,  and  her 
Captain,  Sir  Frederick  Nicolson,  kindly  placed 
me  at  first  in  a  cot  in  his  fore-cabin;  but  youth 
quickly  either  dies  or  recovers,  and  before  a  fort- 
night I  begged  the  Captain  to  treat  and  employ 
me  like  any  other  midshipman,  which  he  did,  and 
a  month  saw  me  as  midshipman  of  the  maintop 
aloft  for  a  long  time,  beating  into  Hong-Kong 
in  a  blazing  hot  sun. 

The  Pique  was  one  of  our  ships  at  Petropau- 

lousky,  and  one  of  her  officers,  Lieutenant  R , 

told  me  this  story  of  himself  there. 

They  had  landed  to  attack  the  Russian  batteries, 
and  our  allied  small-arm  men,  French  and  English, 
appear  to  have  got  somewhat  scattered.     Suddenly 

70 


AN  INCIDENT  OF  PETROPAULOUSKY 

he  saw  a  party  of  armed  seamen  near  him,  and  one 
of  them  pointed  his  musket  at  him,  and  seemed 

about    to   fire.     Lieutenant    R was    rather 

short-sighted,  and  taking  the  party  for  French- 
men, held  up  his  sword  and  called  out,  '  Ne  tirez 
pas.  Je  suis  Anglais.'  This  made  the  man  for 
a  moment  hesitate,  but  apparently  thinking  better 
of  it,   he   again   pointed   his   musket   and   fired. 

Lieutenant  R fortunately  had  on  a  belt  with 

a  pouch  full  of  cartridges  ;  this  the  bullet  hit, 
and  so  did  not  enter  his  body,  but  the  blow 
doubled  him  up  and  knocked  him  down.  The 
Russians  ran  up  to  finish  him  off,  but  luckily 
he  was  at  the  edge  of  the  cliff,  not  precipitous 
but  steep,  and  down  this  he  rolled  to  the  beach 
below,  and  so  escaped. 

A  long  sea  voyage  has  not  much  of  interest  to 
relate ;  to  a  mere  passenger  it  is  no  doubt  tedious, 
but  to  a  real  sailor,  in  the  ship  he  belongs  to,  it 
means  daily  work  and,  in  the  good  old  sailing 
days,  the  delights  of  seamanship,  and  indeed  of 
yachting  on  a  grand  scale. 

In  the  Pique  I  learnt  much  seamanship,  and  at 
times  the  senior  midshipmen,  I  being  one,  were 
allowed  to  keep  '  officer's  watch,'  i.e.  be  in  charge 
of  the  deck. 

The  excitement  of  tacking  the  ship  was  delight- 
ful. She  had  been  over  four  years  in  commission 
with  a  fine  ship's  company,  and  things  'flew' 
on  board  her,  and  for  a  boy  to  command  nearly 
a  hundred  men,  who  rushed  about  at  his  order, 
was  a  proud  position. 

Even  work  aloft  was  exciting  ;   at  the  order 

71 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

'  reef  topsails  '  for  instance,  with  a  strong  breeze, 
the  ship  heeling  over  fifteen  degrees  or  more,  and 
the  weather  rigging  as  taut  as  a  harp-string — to 
run  up  it  followed  by  a  crowd  of  top  men  was 
splendid.  But  this  may  not  interest  others,  only 
I  wish  to  record  the  sort  of  life  sea  work  was 
then. 

One  of  our  officers  had  a  small  Pekin  dog, 
which  one  morning  at  sea  fell  overboard;  the 
Captain  ordered  the  ship  to  be  hove  to,  and  a 
boat  sent  to  try  and  pick  it  up.  I  was  sent  in 
charge,  and  when  about  to  give  up  the  search, 
we  saw  the  wretched  creature's  head  just  visible 
in  the  trough  of  the  waves,  and  it  was  saved. 

We  had  one  night  in  my  middle  watch  one  of 
the  worst  thunder-storms  I  ever  saw,  and  on  that 
occasion  at  the  ends  of  two  spars  aloft  were  what 
are  called  *  St.  Elmo's  lights  ';  they  look  just 
like  bright  lanterns  burning  there,  and  are  indeed 
electric  lights,  things  then  not  invented  by  man, 
being  caused  by  the  immense  amount  of  elec- 
tricity in  the  air. 

We  lay  a  few  days  at  Singapore  and  then 
went  to  Anger  Point  as  mentioned  above,  where 
homeward-bound  ships  took  in  their  stock  of 
fowls  and  eggs  for  sea. 

In  the  straits  of  Sunda  between  Java  and 
Sumatra  we  fell  in  with  the  Nankin,  a  50-gun 
sailing  frigate,  also  homeward  bound  from  China. 
The  Nankin  was  a  new  ship  that  commission, 
and  a  beautiful  vessel,  finer  lines  than  the  Pique 
and  more  fitted  for  light  winds  than  we  were. 

Her  captain  was  senior  to  ours,  and  made 
72 


RACE  WITH  THE  A^^iViT/iV— SIMON'S  BAY 

us  a  signal  to  close,  and  then  to  try  the  rate  of 
sailing.  For  two  or  three  days  we  did  so,  and  as 
all  yachtsmen  know,  trying  one  vessel  against 
another  is  often  exciting,  and  is  the  only  way 
to  find  out  what  trim  of  the  ship,  and  what  point 
of  sailing  as  regards  the  wind,  best  suit  your 
own  vessel.  Finally,  with  the  wind  nearly  a 
point  before  our  beam  in  a  fresh  breeze  and  just 
able  to  carry  topmast  studding-sails,  we  walked 
away  from  the  Nankin,  and  left  her  out  of  sight 
astern,  but  she  arrived  at  Simon's  Bay  before 
us  after  all. 

A  few  days  before  reaching  Simon's  Bay, 
when  off  Cape  Agulhas,  in  the  middle  watch  a 
heavy  north-west  gale  of  wind  came  on  and  lasted 
some  twenty-four  hours.  It  was  an  interesting 
experience,  for  the  seas  there  are  large  :  the  ship 
was  reduced  to  only  close-reefed  maintop-sail  and 
forestay-sail  and  the  former  blew  away.  There 
was  no  real  danger  as  we  were  not  on  a  lee  shore, 
and  the  ship  was  a  good  sea  boat  and  well  handled, 
but  routine  had  to  yield  to  the  weather  altogether, 
a  variety  much  appreciated  by  many  of  us. 

Our  stay  at  Simon's  Town  was  for  a  few  days, 
enough  for  us  to  make  a  trip  to  Cape  Town  :  the 
sort  of  holiday  that  perhaps  only  a  sailor  much 
at  sea  can  really  properly  appreciate.  From  the 
Cape  we  went  to  St.  Helena,  running  up  there 
with  the  south-east  trade  wind  blowing  so  steadily 
that  the  running  ropes  could  be  left  quiescent, 
sufficiently  for  us  to  paint  both  the  upper  deck 
and  even  the  yards  aloft.  I  only  mention  this 
to  show  what  the  trade  winds  can  be. 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

It  was  my  first  visit  to  St.  Helena,  where  even 
the  prosaic  mind  of  the  midshipman  thinks  of  the 
once  mighty  Napoleon.  Some  of  us  rode  out  to 
Longwood  and  visited  both  the  house  and  the 
tomb  of  that  wonderful  man. 

Over  the  latter  grew  a  willow  tree;  we  were 
anxious  to  get  some  sprigs — or  cuttings — of  it 
to  take  to  England,  and  plant  there.  For  this 
purpose  I  climbed  up  the  tree,  and  was  soon 
attracted  by  a  serious  altercation  between  one  of 
my  messmates  and  an  infuriated  Frenchman, 
who  was,  or  constituted  himself,  the  guardian  of 
the  tomb  and  tree. 

While  lying  here  I  remember  a  British  mer- 
chant ship  was  also  at  anchor  and  flying  a  white 
ensign  at  her  peak,  instead  of  a  red  one.  Our 
Captain,  as  was  right,  sent  a  boat  on  board  her  and 
brought  the  white  ensign  away.  While  on  the 
subject  I  must  say  I  am  of  opinion  that  the 
proper  ensign  of  a  man-of-war  should  be  confined 
exclusively  to  H.M.  ships  ;  not  to  yachts,  except 
with  a  device  added. 

After  St.  Helena  we  called  only  at  Ascension 
Island,  which  we  took  possession  of  in  1815  when 
Napoleon  was  placed  in  St.  Helena,  as  a  further 
security  against  any  attempt  to  help  him  to 
escape. 

Ascension  Island  is  of  volcanic  origin,  and 
probably  Madeira  ages  ago  was  in  much  the  same 
condition.  Only  the  higher  part  of  Ascension, 
called  the  Green  Mountain,  is  now  covered  \\dth 
vegetation,  but  what  there  is  is  gradually  increasing 
and  extending  downwards. 

74 


AN  EXAMPLE   OF   INANIMATE   BEAUTY 

Ascension,  though  only  eight  degrees  south  of 
the  equator,  is  kept  cool  and  airy  by  the  south- 
east trade  wind.  The  thermometer  is  usually 
not  above  80°,  and  the  place  is  very  healthy. 
Its  *  garrison,'  or  inhabitants,  are  entirely  naval 
officers  and  men — seamen  or  marines — with  their 
wives  and  families,  and  many  of  them  get  ex- 
tremely fond  of  living  there. 

I  never  admired  any  ship  I  served  in  as  a 
picture  more  than  I  did  the  Pique.  In  the 
modern  ships  I  can  see  no  beauty,  except  as  a 
means — we  hope — in  case  of  war  of  bringing  in 
the  war  indemnity.  But  *  the  winged  sea-girt 
citadel '  was  a  thing  of  positive  beauty :  one  could 
look  at  and  regard  her  like  one  would  a  very 
fine  animal,  I  had  almost  said  a  pretty  woman  ! 

Now  do,  or  will,  this  or  the  next  generation 
admire  the  modern  armoured  ship  or  torpedo 
boat — shall  we  also  say  submarine  ? — as  much  as 
we  did  the  frigate,  and  some  other  vessels  of  the 
past  ?  If  so  I  can  only  say  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  inanimate  beauty,  but  it  is  only  a 
question  of  what  you  are  used  to — a  very  low 
standard  too.  Ask  the  Royal  Academy  about 
this! 

In  February  we  got  into  the  Channel,  bent 
cables  to  the  anchors,  cables  being  kept  unbent 
in  the  open  ocean,  and  hove  to  for  soundings 
with  the  deep-sea  lead. 

This  in  those  days  was  almost  a  ceremony : 
the  ship  had  to  be  hove  to,  the  lead  line  passed 
forward  outside  the  ship  from  aft,  and  when 
thrown  in,  the  line  was  gradually  quitted  in  turn 

75 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

by  men  all  along  the  hammock  netting,  calling 
out  in  their  turns,  '  Watch,  there,  watch  ' — each 
waiting  to  see  if  the  line  was  *  up  and  down,' 
meaning  that  the  lead  was  on  the  bottom,  and 
if  so  what  depth  was  marked  on  the  line.  Now 
Lord  Kelvin's  admirable  sounding  machine  has 
changed  all  that. 

We  anchored  in  Plymouth  Sound,  the  ship 
having  been  five  years  away  from  England. 
Too  long  for  several  reasons ;  many  on  board  had 
long  got  quite  tired  of  each  other,  and  showed 
it  plainly. 

We  paid  off  in  the  Hamoaze,  i.e.  Devonport 
Harbour,  but  first  completely  unrigged,  dismantled 
and  gutted  the  ship.  Masts,  guns,  stores,  and  all 
movables  were  got  out  of  her.  Though  a  good 
sound  ship  she  was  never  commissioned  again, 
but  now  lies  as  a  quarantine  vessel  (if  so  required) 
in  Plymouth  Sound. 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  way  money  was  kept 
owing  to  men  in  those  days,  I  may  mention 
that  I  remember  one  seaman  receiving  over  /loo 
at  the  pay  table. 

I  made  no  effort  to  select  my  next  ship, 
and  was  appointed  to  the  Mersey,  fitting  out  at 
Portsmouth. 

She  was  a  new  screw  frigate,  by  far  the  largest 
and  most  powerful  one  in  the  service,  and  we  all 
felt  about  as  proud  of  her  as  if  she  had  been  the 
first  Dreadnought. 

She  had  40  guns,  the  ones  on  the  main  deck  all 
lo-inch — then   the   largest   calibre — and   on    the 

76 


_^ 


I 


H..M.S.    PK^UE 

Forty-gun  sailing  frigate 

1S5S 


EXAMINATION    FOR    LIEUTENANT'S    COMMISSION 

upper  deck  68-pounders.  She  could  steam  14 
knots,  then  most  unusual ;  though  this  would  not 
be  thought  much  of  now. 

The  Mersey  as  a  lasting  ship  was  a  failure, 
her  scantling  was  too  slight  for  her  engines  and 
her  guns.  At  full  speed  under  steam  her  masts 
actually  shook,  and  I  have  seen  the  topmast 
rigging  flapping  against  the  topmasts.  Her  seams 
to  some  degree  opened  and  let  the  water  through. 
She  only  lasted  one  sea-going  commission.  Per- 
haps the  fact  is  that  to  stand  the  strains  of  power- 
ful machinery  and  heavy  ordnance  a  vessel  should 
be  built  of  iron,  or  better  still  of  steel. 

My  time  to  pass  for  lieutenant  was  up  six 
months  before,  but  I  had  to  wait  for  age,  to  be- 
come nineteen,  which  happened  in  a  few  weeks' 
time,  and  I  passed  in  seamanship,  on  board  the 
then  new  naval  cadets'  training-ship  the  Illustriotis 
in  Portsmouth  Harbour.  To  show  how  different 
the  examinations  at  that  time  were  I  may  state 
that  my  Captain  then  said,  '  I  give  you  a  month 
to  get  through  gunnery  and  the  College.' 

For  the  first  of  them  I  was  three  or  four  weeks 
working  on  board  the  Excellent  and  living  in  the 
old  Naval  College  in  the  dockyard,  at  which  place 
I  went  afterwards  through  my  examination  in 
navigation,  &c.  For  both  the  above  examina- 
tions we  used  to  *  cram '  privately  :  for  gunnery 
with  a  gunner  of  the  Excellent  in  Portsea,  who 
made  a  very  good  thing  of  it ;  and  for  the  College 
examination  with  a  private  mathematical  in- 
structor on  shore. 

In  those  days  the  examinations  were  what 

77 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

would  now  be  thought  very  easy,  which  was 
necessary,  as  our  instruction  in  most  ships  was 
nil,  or,  if  not  quite  that,  shamefully  neglected  ; 
and  if  the  examinations  had  been  what  they  are 
now,  nobody  would  have  passed,  and  the  Navy 
would  have  come  to  an  end  for  want  of  officers  ! 
Read  Marryat's  novels,  and  see  his  mention  of 
examination  for  the  rank  of  lieutenant ;  it  was 
then  only  before  three  captains,  and  an  hour  or 
little  more  metamorphosed  the  midshipman  into 
a  master's  mate — now  sub-lieutenant— and  if 
his  father  was  a  peer,  or  influential  M.P.  on  the 
then  Government's  side,  probably  at  once  into 
a  full-blown  lieutenant,  with  one  '  swab '  or 
epaulette  on  his  right  shoulder. 

Yet  the  Navy  saved  England,  and  saved 
Europe  ;  and  fully  justified  Macaulay's  famous 
remark,  *  but  the  British  Navy  no  misgovern- 
ment  could  ruin ' :  and  I  believe  it  is  the  same  now. 

I  served  in  five  ships,  as  naval  cadet  and 
midshipman  for  a  period  of  six  and  a  half 
years— not  including  the  Mersey — during  which 
time  I  certainly  had  not  the  benefit  of  any 
naval  instructor's  tuition  for  over  two  years  at 
most,  and  the  Calcutta  was  the  only  ship  I  was 
in,  in  which  any  of  the  superior  officers  took 
any  interest  in  whether  we  learnt  anything  or 
did  not. 

The  Pique,  carrying  several  youngsters,  was 
over  five  years  in  commission,  but  never  had  a 
naval  instructor,  or  anyone  to  teach  them. 

whatsaying  this,   I  am  only  wishing  to  show 
In       an    extraordinary    and    oeneficial    change 

78 


INCONGRUITIES    OF    THE    OLD    SYSTEM 

has  come  over  the  Navy  as  regards  its  young 
officers'  training  and  teaching  ;  and  you  cannot 
wonder  that  in  those  days  many  of  them  '  came  to 
grief '  as  the  expression  is. 

About  my  '  passing  days  '  I  will  mention  no 
names,  but  I  was  with  a  luckless  lot,  none  of 
whom  rose  in  the  service. 

The  *  Keppel's  Head '  on  the  Hard  is  now  a 
grand  hotel,  in  its  way  ;  its  predecessor  was 
a  humble  hostelry,  much  frequented  by  naval 
officers,  and  its  landlord,  George  Clarke,  respected 
and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him. 

The  evening  of  the  College  examination  I  was 
in  there,  and  we  were  comparing  our  answers  to 
the  different  questions  in  the  *  College  sheet.' 
One  officer  said  to  me,  '  Well,  I  fear  you  will  be 
turned  back  (or  *  goated '  as  the  expression 
was),  for  all  my  answers  are  different  from  yours 
and  I  believe  mine  are  right.'  This  was  not 
reassuring  to  me,  but  when  we  went  in  next  day 
to  hear  the  results  the  Clerk  of  the  College  said 

to    my   friend,    '  Mr.    H perhaps  you  would 

rather  not  see  the  Captain  (who  gave  or  refused 
the  certificates)  as  you  are  turned  back  for  the 
third  time,'  which  meant  dismissal  from  the 
service. 

Another  officer  who  had  been  acting-lieu- 
tenant on  a  foreign  station  for  three  years,  and 
was  trying  to  pass  at  the  same  time  as  myself,  was 
turned  back  and  lost  all  the  above  seniority  ; 
and  when  he  passed  had  to  join  a  ship  as  a  mate 
(now  sub-lieutenant).  In  these  days  midship- 
men whose  time  is  up  to  pass  are  sent  home  as 

79 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

soon   as   possible   for   their  examinations,   which 
is  quite  right. 

While  I  was  at  the  College  a  large  passenger 
sailing  packet  from  India  arrived  one  night  at 
Spithead,  and  as  she  rounded  the  Nablight  to  bear 
up  for  her  anchorage  she  somehow  caught  fire 
aft,  the  wind  then  fair,  i.e.  astern,  fanned  the 
flames,  and  she  arrived  about  midnight  burning 
fiercely.  All  that  could  be  done  was  to  save  life, 
and  the  passengers  came  on  shore  in  night  attire. 

A  steam  sloop  was  lying  at  Spithead  about  to 
sail  for  a  foreign  station,  and  after  the  wreck  had 
become  helpless  this  vessel  was  ordered  to  get 
under  way  and  fire  into  her  to  sink  her,  but  as 
she  fired  the  burning  wreck  lightened,  and  drifted 
at  last  on  shore  off  Haslar  Hospital. 

In  June,  having  finished  my  examinations,  I 
rejoined  the  Mersey  as  'full-blown  mate,'  a  fine 
old  title  that  I  was  proud  of.  A  few  years  after 
the  Admiralty — in  a  fit  of,  shall  we  say  snobbish- 
ness ? — altered  the  title  to  sub-lieutenant,  and  on 
the  same  principle  should  have  changed  midship- 
man to  '  Ensign  de  Vaisseau  '  ! 

The  Mersey  belonged  to  the  Channel  Fleet ; 
she  was  perhaps  the  best  specimen  of  a  man-of- 
war  that  I  ever  was  in. 

Both  her  captain  and  her  executive  officer — 
first-lieutenant  in  a  frigate  in  those  days — were 
noted  as  smart  officers  and  good  seamen.  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  the  ship  was  called  uncom- 
fortable, owing  to  the  amount  of  work  on  board, 
and  the  restriction  of  leave  ;  but  after  all  a 
smart  ship  is  not  onlv  right,   but  is  the  most 

^80 


CHINESE   REFUSE  ADMITTANCE  TO  THE  PEIHO 

satisfactory  one   to   serve   in,    and  we  had   our 
diversions. 

One  evening  lying  in  Plymouth  Sound,  I 
and  a  messmate  tossed  up  who  should  at  once 
jump  overboard  dressed  as  we  were,  and  the 
other  come  after  him  to  save  him.  It  fell  to  mj^ 
lot  to  go  first,  which  of  course  I  did,  and  I  being 
in  good  odour  with  the  superior  powers  my  mess- 
mate, who  was  not  so,  also  escaped  blame. 

In  August  we  got  the  startling  news  of  our 
defeat  on  the  Peiho  River,  in  our  attempt  to  take 
the  Taku  forts.  The  naval  excitement  about  it  was 
very  strong,  and  I  was  of  course  mad  to  go  back  to 
China  at  once,  and  having  some  interest  I  was 
appointed  to  the  Imperieuse,  just  about  to  sail 
for  Hong-Kong.  The  fight  on  the  Peiho  on 
25th  June  1859  came  about  thus.  Mr.  Bruce, 
Lord  Elgin's  brother,  was  sent  to  ratify  the  treaty 
made  in  1858,  which  by  mutual  agreement  was 
to  be  ratified  at  Tiensin  within  a  year.  Our 
Admiral,  Sir  James  Hope,  who  had  lately  suc- 
ceeded to  the  command  in  China,  escorted  Mr. 
Bruce  with  a  squadron,  though  no  force  should 
have  been  required.  The  Chinese  broke  faith, 
and  having  restored  the  Taku  forts  and  rearmed 
them,  refused  us  admittance  to  the  river.  It 
became  then  the  Admiral's  duty  to  endeavour 
to  force  a  passage  in. 

The  boom  proved  too  strong  to  be  passed  ; 
our  people  behaved  with  great  pluck  and 
energy,  but  kept  before  the  guns  of  the  forts 
the  fire  was  too  hot,  and  some  of  our  vessels 
were  sunk. 

81  e 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

It  was  then  resolved  as  a  last  resource  to  land, 
though  in  front  of  the  forts,  and  try  to  carry 
them  by  assault — wading  through  deep  soft 
mud. 

It  was  probably  a  forlorn  hope,  and  it  failed  ; 
but  we  had  incurred  no  dishonour.  The  Admiral 
was  wounded,  and  many  officers  and  men  killed 
and  v/omided.  The  strength  of  the  boom  was 
really  the  determining  factor.  Of  course  I  was 
not  there,  but  as  I  not  long  after  joined  the 
Chesapeake,  Admiral  Hope's  flagship,  I  have 
heard  everything  about  it  well  discussed. 

I  joined  the  Imperieuse  at  Devonport,  and 
remember  for  the  first  time  in  my  life — though 
often  after— being  struck  with  the  contrasts  of 
ships'  sizes,  and  how  one  gets  to  think  whatever 
vessel  you  are  in  is  the  normal  size,  and  that 
other  ships  are  unduly  large  or  small. 

The  Imperieuse  was  the  first  51-gun  screw 
frigate  in  our  Navy.  In  1853  she  came  to  Spit- 
head  just  commissioned,  and  I  remember  going 
on  board  her  from  the  Encounter  and  thinking 
her  enormous.  When  I  joined  her  from  the 
Mersey  she  looked  quite  cramped  and  small,  yet 
the  differences  were  not  really  very  much. 

She  had  been  commissioned  for  the  Channel 
Fleet,  but  in  consequence  of  our  disaster  on  the 
Peiho,  was  suddenly  ordered  to  go  to  China  to  be 
flagship  of  Rear-Admiral  Lewis  Tobias  Jones 
(mentioned  before  in  the  Sampson  in  the 
Black  Sea),  who  had  preceded  us  by  mail  to 
China,    to   take  command  if  Admiral  Hope   did 

82 


VOYAGE   TO   CHINA 

not  recover  from  his  wound,  or  if  he  did  to  be  his 
second  in  command. 

Our  Captain  was  anxious  to  get  out  as  quick 
as  possible.  We  made  most  of  the  voyage  under 
sail,  steaming  only  when  required.  In  those 
days  steam  was  only  looked  on  as  an  auxiliarj^ 

We  called  at  St.  Vincent,  Cape  Verde  Islands, 
for  coal,  and  some  of  us  had  a  sporting  episode  on 
shore  which  might  have  been  more  serious  than 
it  was. 

We  then  made  a  sort  of  great  circle  track, 
going  down  far  south  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
to  get  also  the  strong  westerly  winds  of  the  South 
Atlantic  and  South  Indian  Oceans. 

The  seas  there  between  40°  and  50°  of  south 
latitude  are  the  heaviest  in  the  world,  and  when 
running  with  a  strong  breeze  aft  or  quarterly,  it 
is  fine  to  watch  a  following  sea  that,  looking  much 
higher  than  your  hull,  first  lifts  your  stern  and  then 
your  bow  as  it  passes,  seeming  at  first  to  intend 
to  swamp  you,  and  on  second  thoughts  only  to 
sweep  you  onwards  on  your  course. 

We  were  about  seventy  days  out  of  sight  of 
land,  between  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  and  Java 
Head,  a  thing  not  common  anywhere  with  men- 
of-war  nowadays. 

Christmas  Day  is  still  the  great  yearly  festival 
in  a  man-of-war,  and  it  was  then  also  a  day  of  too 
much  licence. 

The  morning  after  Christmas  we  were  running 
before  the  south-east  trade  winds  in  the  East 
Indian  Ocean,  with  studding  sails  on  one  side. 
I  was  officer  of  the  morning  watch,  and  of  the  some 

83 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

150  men,  '  Watch  and  Idlers/  who  should  have 
answered  their  master  round  the  quarter-deck 
capstan  only  about  half  could  do  so  properly.  I 
thought  to  myself,  if  a  man  falls  overboard,  now 
what  should  I  do  ?  and  came  to  a  decision ;  but 
happily  the  event  did  not  occur. 

The  Imperieuse  all  her  commission  leaked 
badly,  and  on  our  way  out  it  took  a  sub-division 
of  the  watch  some  quarter  of  an  hour  twice  a  day 
to  pump  her  out  with  the  hand  pumps,  when  we 
were  not  under  steam. 

When  between  Anger  Point  and  Singapore, 
and  passing  through  the  Straits  of  Rheo  one 
morning  a  marine  fell  overboard.  I  was  on  the 
main  deck  at  the  time,  and  a  young  officer  who 
saw  it  happen  announced  it  in  a  very  ordinary 
tone  of  voice.  I  got  into  a  port  and  seeing  the  man 
going  astern  took  it  into  my  head  to  jump  after  him. 
But  I  was  never  able  to  reach  him.  There  are 
many  sharks  there,  but  I  do  not  think  he  was 
taken  by  one.  He  simply  went  down,  and  though 
I  dived  I  could  not  see  him. 

At  first  I  tried  to  encourage  him  by  calling 
out,  *  Do  keep  up  if  possible  for  a  few  seconds  '  ; 
but  I  must  confess  I  was  reminded  of  Mr. 
Winkle  and  Mr.  Pickwick  at  Pear  Tree  Green 
pond.  By  no  means  do  I  wish  to  joke  about 
so  sad  a  thing  as  a  fellow  creature's  death, 
but  only  to  relate  a  fact. 

The  life-buoy  was  at  last  let  go,  and  failing 
all  efforts  to  reach  the  unfortunate  man,  who 
was  evidently  lost,  I  disregarded  the  life-buoy 
and   swam    towards    the   boat    which    had   been 

84 


APPOINTED  LIEUTENANT  ON  THE  FLAGSHIP 

lowered,  arguing  to  myself  that  a  shark  could  get 
me  on  the  buoy,  but  that  if  I  met  the  boat  I 
should  be  less  time  exposed  to  him. 

I  afterwards  heard  that  the  remark  was  made 
about  me,  *  Well  he  must  be  born  to  be  hanged 
and  not  drowned.' 

At  Singapore  we  took  in  a  deck-load  of  coal, 
to  steam  up  the  China  Sea  against  the  north- 
east monsoon,  and  so  made  a  good  run  up  to 
Hong-Kong. 

We  found  the  Commander-in-Chief,  Sir  James 
Hope,  here  in  his  flagship  the  Chesapeake,  and  a 
few  days  afterwards  he  had  a  blank  commission 
for  lieutenant  sent  him  from  the  Admiralty,  and 
in  a  very  kind  and  complimentary  way  gave  it  to 
me,  and  took  me  into  his  flagship. 


85 


CHAPTER  VIII 

H.M.S.  CHESAPEAKE.  COWPER.  AND    WATERMAN 

The  Chesapeake — Tah-lien-wan  Bay — Port  Arthur — An  Execu- 
tion— Taku  Forts  taken — Tiensin — Nagasaki — The  Cowper 
— The  Yangtse  River — Nankin — The  Waterman — Canton 
River — Pagodas — The  '  Cat ' — Evacuation  of  Canton. 

In  February  i860  I  joined  the  Chesapeake,  a 
frigate  very  similar  to  the  Imperieuse.  From 
now  till  May  we  remained  at  Hong-Kong  very 
busy  preparing  for  the  expedition  to  the  North, 
and  the  harbour  filling  with  men-of-war  and 
transports. 

Lord  Elgin  arrived  from  England  to  act  again 
as  our  plenipotentiary,  and  Sir  Hope  Grant  as 
the  General  to  command  our  troops. 

In  May  we  left  Hong-Kong  and  went  to  Tah- 
lien-wan  Bay,  where  all  were  to  rendezvous 
before  the  campaign  began.  This  place  is  an 
inlet  of  Korea  Bay,  but  is  now  much  better  known 
as  Dalny.  In  i860  it  had  only  some  small 
Chinese  villages  on  its  shores,  and  the  neighbour- 
ing coasts  were  most  imperfectly  known  and 
hardly  surveyed  at  all. 

Our  Admiral  sent  the  gunboats  to  examine 
86 


HANGING  A  MARINE  AT  THE  YARDARM 

the  coasts  near,  and  the  Algerine,  commanded  by 
Lieutenant  W,  Arthur,^  returned  with  the  news 
that  she  had  found  a  very  good  harbour  ;  which 
the  Admiral  named  Port  Arthur  after  its,  so  to 
speak,  discoverer. 

While  we  were  here,  a  tragic  event  occurred 
on  board  the  Leven  gunboat.  A  marine  of  that 
ship  called  Dalhanty,  having  committed  a  theft 
and  knowing  he  would  be  found  out  and  punished 
(no  doubt  flogged),  made  up  his  mind  to  deserve 
still  more.  He  was  servant  to  the  Lieutenant- 
Commander,  and  taking  his  master's  revolver,  he 
shot  him  from  behind,  in  his  cabin.  Having  done 
this  he  hid  the  revolver  under  his  coat  and  went 
on  deck.  No  one  there  had  heard  the  shot  fired. 
He  approached  the  next  officer  in  command — a 
'  second  master  ' — and  very  respectfully  said, 
'  The  Captain  wants  you  in  his  cabin.'  The  officer 
suspecting  nothing  went  down  the  ladder,  but 
as  he  reached  the  bottom  of  it  Dalhanty  fired  at 
him  and  wounded  him  also.  The  marine  was 
then  secured. 

Both  officers  recovered,  but  the  crime  was 
as  bad  as  it  could  be.  A  court-martial  was  held, 
and  Dalhanty  was  sentenced  to  death,  and  the 
day  after  the  sentence  was  hanged  at  the  yard- 
arm  of  the  Leven. 

For  this  the  gunboat  was  anchored  close  to 
us,  and  as  I  happened  to  be  doing  duty  as  flag- 
lieutenant  at  the  time,  I  was  with  the  Admiral 
on  our  bridge. 

*  The   late  Arimiral   Arthur,   C.B.     The   origin   of  the  name 
of  this  now  famous  place  is,  I  believe,  httle  known. 

87 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

The  naval  procedure  m  such  cases  is  to  place 
the  prisoner  on  a  platform  under  the  fore  yard- 
arm,  the  rope  being  rove  through  a  block  at  the 
above,  and  manned  by  men  from  different  ships. 
To  do  this  every  ship  present  sends  a  boat  manned 
and  armed  to  surround  the  execution  ship,  and 
the  bow  men  of  every  boat  are  those  sent  on 
board  to  man  the  whip. 

A  gun  is  fired  and  the  man  is  run  up  to  the 
yardarm,  where  a  stop  is  broken  so  that  he  falls 
about  ten  feet  as  a  drop.  In  this  case  the  body 
then  swung  for  an  hour  at  the  yardarm,  before 
being  buried  in  the  sea.  This  is  at  present  the 
last  execution  on  board  one  of  our  ships. 

On  26th  Juty  the  expedition  left  Tah-lien-wan 
Bay  for  the  mouth  of  the  Peh-tang  River,  a  few 
miles  north  of  the  Peiho,  and  the  transports  of 
both  nations,  the  French  and  ourselves,  assembled 
there. 

Landing  the  troops  and  preparing  for  the 
advance  on  the  Peiho  River  to  attack  the  Taku 
forts  there,  was  a  slow  business.  Allied  operations 
are  apt  to  be  slow,  and  if  slower  than  they  should 
be,  one  nation  can  always  throw  the  blame  on 
the  other  ;   which  has  often  been  done. 

It  was  not  till  the  21st  August  that  the  first 
fort  was  taken  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Peiho 
River.  The  fall  of  this  led  at  once  to  the  capture 
of  the  more  important  fort  on  that  side.  After 
that  the  Chinese  felt  the  southern  forts  to  be  un- 
tenable, and  so  the  allies  became  masters  of  the 
place. 

Immediately  afterwards  our  Admiral  pushed 
88 


AT   TIENSIN 

on  up  the  river  to  Tiensin,  and  the  advance  there 
was  followed  by  the  armies. 

In  this  campaign  I  took  no  part  as  a  com- 
batant, and  so  as  to  me  it  is  only  a  matter  then 
of  what  I  heard,  and  now  of  history,  I  will  not 
here  relate  it. 

I  was  in  charge  of  our  working  parties  in 
the  southern  forts,  which  gave  me  a  good  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  them.  They  did  credit  to  the 
Chinese  and  were  in  fact  massive  earthworks, 
raised  on  earth  bastions,  planted  on  the  low  and 
almost  muddy  shores  of  the  river  ;  for  those  days 
heavily  armed,  and  the  guns  well  placed  and 
mounted. 

Outside  the  forts  the  approach  of  storming 
parties  was  rendered  difficult,  partly  by  the 
ground  literally  bristling  with  sharp  stakes  of 
different  sizes,  some  one  or  two  feet  long  out  of 
the  ground,  some  only  a  few  inches,  and  here 
and  there  you  found  what  are  called  crow's 
feet. 

My  work  at  the  forts  being  over,  I  got  leave 
to  go  up  to  Tiensin.  I  had  hardly  got  there 
when  orders  came  to  explore  the  river  above  that 
place  towards  Pekin,  and  report  if  it  would  do 
for  a  flotilla  to  ascend  it,  carrying  stores,  ammu- 
nition, &c. 

The  senior  officer  at  Tiensin  happened  to 
be  my  old  Captain  in  the  Terrible,  and  Com- 
mander Goodenough  (late  of  the  Calcutta),  who 
was  then  in  command  of  a  ship  there,  was 
selected  for  this  service.  Between  the  two  I 
was    seized    on    to    go    also,   and    very  glad    of 

89 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

course  I  was.  We  started  in  two  gigs,  so  called. 
The  weather  was  hot  and  sleeping  in  the  boats 
no  hardship. 

It  was  curious  to  see  the  Chinese.  We  had  our 
small-arms  of  course,  but  could  have  offered  no 
real  defence  if  fired  on  from  the  banks.  However, 
the  Celestial  showed  no  doubt  his  sense  in  not 
molesting  us.  Indeed  at  places  they  kow-towed 
to  us,  a  thing  always  unpleasant  to  my  feelings 
when  performed  to  me. 

I  forget  how  far  we  went  or  for  how  many 
days,  but  the  report  of  my  senior  officer,  Com- 
mander Goodenough,  on  our  return  was  in  favour 
of  a  flotilla  ;  whose  proceedings  and  valuable 
services  may  be  read  of  by  those  who  choose, 
in  the  archives  of  the  military  expedition  to 
Pekin. 

I  may  just  add  that  the  Admiral  meant  me 
to  go  with  this  flotilla,  which  was  commanded  by 
Captain  Roderick  Dew,  my  former  superior  in 
the  Encounter,  but  I  could  not  be  found,  owing  to 
the  above  expedition  ;  and  my  place  was  taken 
by  my  good  and  valued  messmate.  Lieutenant 
Marcus  Hare,  afterwards  lost  in  the  Eurydice. 

This  prevented  my  seeing  the  Summer  Palace, 
well  looted  and  destroyed — so  supposed — in  re- 
venge for  the  certainly  inhuman  treatment  of 
our  countrymen  captured  by  the  Chinese,  of 
whom  only  two  survived.  But  I  must  not 
digress  into  history.  This  last  relates  how  the 
treaty  was  signed  by  the  plenipotentiaries,  Lord 
Elgin  and  Baron  Gros. 

The  retention  of  the  allied  forces  in  the  pro- 

90 


IN   THE   YELLOW   SEA 

vince  of  Chili  was  very  well  arranged,  and  it  was 
a  very  nice  question.  It  was  not  desirable  to 
leave  sooner  than  was  necessary,  but  to  have 
been  caught  by  the  freezing  up  of  the  river  and 
its  approaches  would  have  been  very  serious. 
Enough  to  say  that  the  happy  mean  was 
attained. 

In  the  Chesapeake  we  stayed  off  the  Peiho  till 
late  in  the  year  and  spent  out  Christmas  at  the 
Miatou  Islands  in  the  Gulf  of  Pechili ;  the  last 
two  syllables  of  which  name  are  very  applicable 
there  in  the  winter. 

Pekin  is  about  the  same  latitude  as  Lisbon, 
and  the  Peiho  River  is  on  an  average  frozen  up 
for  quite  seventy  days  every  winter,  and  the 
ice  has  been  known  to  form  for  thirty  miles  off 
the  land  and  even  to  fill  the  harbour  of  Chefoo 
by  its  drift. 

In  January  we  went  to  Nagasaki,  then  I  think 
the  only  place  in  Japan  where  foreigners  were 
allowed  to  land.  All  the  Japanese  were  in  native 
dress,  and  every  yakonin,  or  gentleman,  walked 
about  with  two  swords,  the  long  one  to  kill  his 
enemies,  and  the  short  one  to  kill  himself — if 
required  to  do  so  to  avoid  disgrace. ^ 

From  Nagasaki  we  went  to  Woosung  and 
almost  at  once  it  was  arranged  to  send  an  expedi- 
tion up  the  Yangtse-kiang  River  to  open  its 
trade  to  Europe.  A  small  squadron  of  light 
draft  vessels   was    formed,    and   a   paddle-wheel 

'  A  Japanese  midshipman  committed  suicide  or  '  Hara  Kiri  ' 
on  board  one  of  our  ships,  to  avoid  discredit  for  not  learning  as 
well  as  his  Japanese  brother  officer. 

91 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

steamer  called  the  Cowper,  which  had  been 
bought  into  the  service,  and  drew  only  a  few 
feet  of  water,  was  one  of  the  above.  Her  Com- 
mander had  been  my  superior  as  first-lieutenant 
in  the  Cruizer,  and  as  she  was  to  be  manned 
from  the  Chesapeake  I  was  selected  to  go  as  her 
executive  officer. 

This  was  pleasant  for  me.  We  fitted  out  at 
Shanghai,  and  the  Admiral  decided  that  as  the 
Cowper,  which  was  built  for  a  passenger  steamer 
on  the  Canton  River,  had  much  room  we  should 
take  up  several  merchants  representing  the  British 
firms  at  Shanghai,  who  were  of  course  most 
anxious  to  go. 

The  squadron  consisted  of  the  Coromandel 
with  the  Admiral's  flag  and  seven  other  vessels. 
We  left  Woosung  on  12th  February  1861  bound 
for  Hankow. 

The  same  day  the  Cowper  and  the  Centaur 
ran  aground,  the  river  at  that  time  being  very 
little  known,  and  its  shoals  frequently  shifting. 
We  were  three  days  on  the  bank ;  it  was  freez- 
ing hard,  and  the  keen  north-east  wind  on  our 
beam  made  things  worse.  The  bulkheads  were 
of  the  thinnest  description.  In  the  deck  house 
where  I  and  several  more  slept,  we  rigged  up  an 
iron  oil  cask  as  a  stove,  and  used  to  go  to  sleep 
with  it  red  hot,  and  wake  up  with  the  water  in 
the  place  frozen. 

At  last  we  got  afloat  and  arrived  at  Nankin. 
This  place,  formerly  the  seat  of  the  Ming 
Dynasty    government,   should    certainly    be    the 

92 


THE   PORCELAIN   PAGODA  AT  NANKIN 

capital  of  China,  chiefly  because  it  is  so  central ; 
also  because  it  stands  on  the  bank  of  the  Yangtse- 
kiang,  or  *  Child  of  the  Ocean.' 

Nankin  is  said  to  have  been  the  capital  of 
China  since  a.d.  420,  when  it  was  removed  to 
Pekin. 

It  covers  an  immense  space  and  is  not  less 
than  seven  miles  across.  It  is  walled  round,  the 
walls  in  some  places  being  over  fifty  feet  high, 
and  their  extent  is  twenty-two  miles.  This  space 
was  never  built  all  over,  but  contained  gardens 
and  even  cultivated  fields. 

Just  outside  the  city  wall  at  the  south-west 
side  once  stood  the  beautiful  Porcelain  Pagoda, 
the  only  picture  of  which  that  I  know  of  is  in  the 
Admiralty  Chart  of  the  Opium  War  time.  It  was 
probably  over  a  hundred  feet  high,  and  the 
outsides  of  all  its  bricks  were  covered  with  a 
coating  like  china  of  various  colours.  I  have  one 
perfect  brick  of  it  procured  at  our  visit  from  the 
mournful  remains  of  the  pagoda,  which  had  been 
blown  up  and  so  destroyed  by  the  Taiping  rebels, 
who  in  1853  captured  the  city,  and  held  it  till 
1864. 

When  we  were  there  the  Tien  Wang — or 
'  Heavenly  King,'  who  was  the  head  of  the 
Taiping  rebels—  lived  in  Nankin,  and  kept  a  sort 
of  court  there. 

He  gave  out  that  he  was  a  Christian,  no 
doubt  in  hopes  it  would  get  him  the  countenance, 
if  not  the  actual  support,  of  the  western  nations  ; 
and  had  living  in  Nankin,  under  his  protection 
to  give  colour  to  the  above,  an  English  Protestant 

93 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

missionary,  the  Rev.  O.  I.  J.  Roberts,  who  paid 
us  a  visit  on  board. 

The  latter  wore  Chinese  dress,  and  no  doubt  tried 
to  do  good,  but  the  really  blasphemous  doctrines 
enunciated  by  the  Tien  Wang  forced  him  to  give 
them  all  up  as  hopeless. 

The  Taiping  rebellion  began  about  1850.  Its 
object  was  not,  like  the  Boxers  in  1900,  against 
the  Outer  Barbarians,  but  was  anti-Dynastic,  i.e. 
against  the  Manchu  sovereigns.  It  was  ended, 
as  is  well  known,  by  Gordon's  ever-victorious 
army  about  1864.  The  rebels  committed  awful 
slaughter,  and  devastated  many  flourishing  places. 
They  cut  off  their  pigtails,  which  are  of  Manchu 
origin,  and  wore  their  hair  long  all  over  the 
head  in  ancient  Chinese  fashion,  and  were  often 
called  '  Changmows,'  meaning  long  hair,  in  con- 
sequence. 

The  towns  we  passed  were  mostly  in  the 
hands  of  the  rebels.  At  Nankin  the  avenue  to 
the  Ming  tombs  from  the  city  has  on  each  side 
of  it  large  stone  figures  of  men  and  of  various 
sorts  of  animals,  now  falling  to  pieces. 

It  is  a  common  saying  about  a  road  in  China, 
*  good  for  ten  years  and  bad  for  a  thousand.' 
This  is  of  important  roads  paved  at  first  with 
large  smooth  blocks  of  stone  but  never  mended. 

Our  squadron  was  gradually  diminished  as 
we  got  up  the  river,  ships  being  stationed  at 
different  places.  On  this  occasion  I  went  no 
higher  than  the  Poyang  Lake,  where  the  Atalante, 
another  merchant  steamer  bought  into  our  service 
for  a  time,  was  temporarily  stationed,  and  I  was 

94 


TO  HONG-KONG  IN  THE  WATERMAN 

put  pro  tern,  in  command  of  her.  The  Admiral 
went  on  to  Hankow,  which  is  676  statute  miles 
from  Shanghai. 

We  took  up  with  us  an  expedition  consisting 
of  four  persons,  Colonel  Sarel,  Captain  Blakis- 
ton,  and  two  others.  Their  object  was  to 
explore  the  river  as  high  up  as  possible,  and 
probably  then  make  their  way  through  to  India ; 
which  intention,  having  got  about  1800  miles  up 
the  river,  they  had  to  give  up,  and  returned.  1 
Our  Yangtse  expedition  was  now  over,  and  we 
returned  to  Shanghai. 

On  our  return  in  the  Cowper  to  Shanghai  I 
found  there  the  Waterman,  whose  late  Lieutenant- 
Commander  had  just  been  promoted  out  of  her. 
The  Chesapeake,  to  which  ship  I  really  belonged, 
had  gone  down  to  Hong-Kong,  and  I  was  ordered 
to  take  the  Waterman  down  there,  the  same 
vessel  that  in  1857  had  been  commanded  by  Lord 
Gilford  at  the  Fatshan  Creek  action. 

She  was  an  old  paddle-wheel  steamer,  built  in 
India  of  teak,  and  had  the  old-fashioned  flue 
boilers  made  of  copper,  both  things  long  obsolete 
now. 

Once  she  had  been  called  the  Sir  Charles 
Forbes,  so  she  was  as  used  to  aliases  as  a  twice- 
deserted  Bounty  man.  I  had  no  officers  for  the 
voyage  down  except  two  engineers  ;  however, 
we  got  there  all  right,  and  as  the  Chesapeake  was 
going  home,  and   the  Imperieuse,  to  which  ship 

'  See  The  Yangtse,  1862,  by  Captain  Blakio ton, 

95 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

Sir  James  Hope  shifted  his  flag,  had  no  vacancy, 
I  was  left  in  my  new  ship,  and  began  a  curious 
commission. 

The  only  further  officers  given  me  were  a 
second  master,  equal  to  acting  navigating  sub- 
lieutenant, named  Sherwin,  who  had  just  been 
promoted  from  ordinary  seaman  in  the  flagship, 
a  most  unusual  proceeding  ;  and  a  boatswain 
who  had  just  got  his  warrant. 

To  man  the  vessel  various  captains  were 
told  to  send  me  a  few  men,  so  they  naturally 
selected  their  bad  characters,  no  doubt  feeling 
sure  they  would  all  turn  over  a  new  leaf  in  new 
surroundings.  It  was  also,  of  course,  a  compli- 
ment to  my  moral  example  over  men,  at  the 
expense  of  their  own  personal  influence  ! — but 
these  charitable  hopes  were  not  justified.  I  had 
also  a  few  Chinamen  as  part  of  my  crew. 

We  were  stationed  for  the  summer  up  the 
Canton  River.  I  will  not  say  it  is  the  hottest  naval 
station  in  the  world  as  I  believe  the  Persian  Gulf 
is  worse ;  where  I  have  been  what  is  called 
*  credibly  informed  '  that  in  summer  the  star- 
board watch  lie  down  on  the  upper  deck  and 
sleep,  while  the  port  watch  pump  water  over  them 
to  cool  them :  and  afterwards  take  turn  about. 

Canton  was  still  held  by  us,  so  a  few  small 
ships  had  to  be  kept  in  the  river.  I  lay  mostly 
at  Whampoa,  and  used  to  cruise  about  in  a  boat 
I  had  specially  rigged,  making  expeditions  and 
sleeping  in  her,  by  which  I  got  to  know  the  river 
and  its  creeks  pretty  well.  I  also  climbed  up 
three   or   four   of    the    tall   pagodas.      Everyone 

96 


CHINESE  PAGODAS 

knows  what  a  Chinese  pagoda  is  Hke.  If  not 
let  them  go  to  Kew  and  see  the  one  there.  Their 
object  has  been  much  disputed,  but  I  firmly  beheve 
they  were  erected  at  very  various  dates  to  propitiate 
the  *  Fung  Shui '  or  spirit  of  wind  and  water. 

There  is  no  doubt,  for  example,  that  the  one 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  below  Hangchow, 
where  is  the  highest  Bore  in  the  world,  was  built 
to  control  the  Bore. 

The  legend  is  that  a  General,  a  native  of  Hang- 
chow, was  put  to  death  unjustly  by  the  Emperor, 
and  that  in  revenge  the  Fung  Shui  made  the 
Bore,  which  so  terrified  the  inhabitants  that  the 
authorities  built  the  pagoda  as  a  peace-offering. 

Marco  Polo,  who  visited  that  region,  does  not 
mention  the  Bore,  which  he  surely  would  have 
done  had  it  existed  then.  I  do  not  say  this 
proves  the  above  legend,  but  it  seems  to  show 
that  some  change  since  his  days  has  caused  the 
Bore. 

To  climb  a  new  pagoda — but  I  never  saw  one — 
you  would  ascend  by  stairs  through  the  thickness 
of  the  wall,  alternately  from  outside  to  inside, 
and  the  reverse,  then  when  inside  cross  the  floor 
to  the  next  flight,  or  when  outside  walk  round  on 
a  narrow  ledge  till  you  come  to  it. 

My  pagodas  had  usually  lost  their  floors,  and 
the  ledges  were  often  broken,  but  with  ropes  and 
planks  we  usually  got  up  them,  and  took  away 
a  bell  off  the  edge  of  the  roof,  or  left  a  flag  flying 
on  the  top. 

One  dark  night  when  in  mid-Canton  River  our 
boat  was  capsized  by  a  sudden  shift  of  wind,  and 

97 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

in  a  moment  was  keel  up.  We  conld  all  swim, 
and  by  degrees  unrigged  the  boat,  uprighted  her, 
baled  her  out,  and  re-rigged  her. 

Meanwhile  I  at  one  time  swam  away  to  get 
something  floated  off ;  I  had  in  the  boat  two  of 
my  Chinamen,  who  missing  me  said :  '  Oh  Missa 
Sherwin  I  too  muchee  fear  Captain  have  go  bottom 
side.' 

On  one  occasion  I  landed  at  night  with  men 
to  get  a  tree  I  wanted  as  a  spar — it  proved  a  heavier 
job  than  expected,  and  it  was  broad  daylight 
before  finished  ;  also  we  had  to  get  through  a 
Chinese  burial-ground,  to,  I  fear,  the  detriment 
of  some  graves ;  which  I  regretted,  as  the  Chinese 
greatly  honour  their  dead. 

In  Canton  is  a  mortuary  where  the  bodies 
of  the  rich  are  often  kept  many  weeks,  or  even 
months,  in  magnificent  coffins,  waiting  till  the 
Joss  man  finds  out  and  indicates  the  fortunate 
spot  to  be  buried  in.  This  is,  I  believe,  always  on 
a  hillside,  where  the  interment  then  takes  place, 
and  a  handsome  stone  covering  is  placed  over  the 
tomb,  usually  in  a  crescent,  or  half-circle,  hori- 
zontally on  the  ground. 

I  have  referred  to  my  ship's  company's 
characters.  So  bad  a  lot  I  have  never  had  to 
deal  with,  and  whatever  may  be  thought  of  it 
in  these  humane  days,  I  must  confess  that  it  was 
only  by  the  wholesome  deterrent  influence  of  the 
'  cat  '  that  I  kept  order  on  board. 

As  regards  this  mode  of  punishment  I  have 
these  few  remarks  to  make.  A  hundred  years 
ago  it  was  administered  both  in  the  Navy  and 

98 


FLOGGING  IN  THE  NAVY 

Army  in   a   degree    foolish,    inhuman,   and     dis- 
graceful to  the  services. 

Forty  years  ago  in  the  Navy  it  had  got  under 
such  proper  restrictions,  the  men  were  so  pro- 
tected from  its  hasty  or  ill-judged  use,  and  it 
was  so  seldom  carried  out,  that  only  sentiment 
could  condemn  its  existence.  Ships  often  then  ran 
a  whole  commission  without  the  punishment,  the 
knowledge  of  its  possibilit}^  being  sufficient. 
Like  that  I  would  have  left  it,  practically  a 
dead  letter,  but  yet  a  deterrent. 

Often  since  then  I  have  seen  a  really  good 
man  ruined  for  life,  and  his  family  also,  by  a  long 
term  of  imprisonment  —  sometimes  five  years' 
penal  servitude  —  for  an  offence,  not  really  dis- 
graceful— insubordination  perhaps — for  which  a 
few  years  before  he  would  have  had  a  moderate 
flogging,  unknown  outside  the  ship,  and  not 
there  thought  a  disgrace,  unrecorded  on  his 
certificate  and  forgotten ;  his  family  ignorant 
of  it,  and  still  having  his  money  remitted  to 
them,  and  nothing  to  prevent  his  rising  to  warrant 
rank. 

Which  of  the  two  above  pictures  is  the  kinder  ? 
Would  the  parent  of  a  public  school  boy  rather 
have  his  son  *  swished  '  or  sent  to  prison  ?  Once 
done  away  with  I  agree  it  cannot  be  restored, 
public  feeling  being  what  it  is. 

I  dare  say  those — if  any — who  read  the  above 
will  pronounce  me  a  hard-hearted  tyrant :  still  I 
do  not  think  I  am  so;  but  anyhow  I  am  not 
ashamed  of  my  opinions,  because  they  are  based 
on    long    experience    of    sailors,    and    my    only 

99  H    2 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

object  can  be  the  real  good  of  men  and  the 
service. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1861  we  evacuated 
Canton,  having  held  it  all  but  four  years,  and 
returned  it  to  the  Chinese  Mandarin  Government. 
This  was  done  with  more  than  one  day's  cere- 
monies at  which  I  assisted. 

I  am  sure  that  many,  perhaps  most,  of  the 
peace-loving,  industrious,  and  trading  Chinese 
were  very  sorry  to  lose  us.  I  know  a  good 
many  shopkeepers,  who  could,  left  for  Hong- 
Kong  to  avoid  being  squeezed  by  the  Mandarins. 

This  was  my  last  job  in  the  Waterman;  ships 
were  no  longer  wanted  in  the  same  way  up  the 
river,  and  we  were  paid  off  at  Hong-Kong,  and 
our  ship  was  sold  for  about  £6000. 


100 


CHAPTER  IX 

H.M.S.  SPHINX  AND  IMPERIEUSE 

Wreck  of  the  Noma — Pelew  Islands — Caroline  Islands — Mariana 
Islands — Shanghai — Taiping  Rebels — Ward's  Contingent — 
Ship  on  Fire — Loss  of  a  Gun — Naval  Brigade — Singpoo — 
Kahding  taken — Cholera — Gordon  (Pacha). 

On  leaving  the  Waterman  I  went  to  the  Princess 
Charlotte,  the  ship  of  the  senior  officer  at  Hong- 
Kong,  to  await  passage  to  the  flagship  then  at 
Shanghai,  a  vacancy  having  occurred  on  board 
her  and  the  Admiral  kindly  appointing  me  to 
fill  it. 

While  thus  waiting  I  was  employed  running 
gunboats  about  on  various  errands,  which  I  liked. 
One  time  I  took  out  a  gunboat,  out  of  commission, 
with  only  a  few  of  my  men ;  she  had  no  masts 
in,  and  so  was  dependent  only  on  steam.  At 
night  on  our  way  back  to  Hong-Kong  the  leading 
stoker  rushed  on  deck  and  said,  '  Oh  sir,  the 
engineer  is  drunk  and  has  let  all  the  water  out 
of  the  boiler,  which  is  getting  red  hot,  and  now 
he  wants  to  let  in  lots  of  cold  water  to  cool  it.' 
What  the  result  would  soon  have  been  all  engineers 
know.     The  only  thing  to  do  was  to  draw  fires, 

lOI 


MY   NAVAL   CARKFR 

anchor,  so  as  not  to  drift  on  shore,  and  let  the 
boiler  cool.  The  senior  naval  officer,  to  whom 
of  course  I  reported  it  and  who  was  the  kindest 
of  men,  let  the  engineer  off  because  he  had  a  wife 
and  family. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  I  have  a  word  to 
say  against  the  engineers  of  the  Nav}'.  They  have 
served  us  well,  and  the  improvement  in  them  in 
all  respects  since  I  joined  the  Navy  is  extra- 
ordinary. Now  as  a  class  they  are  abolished. 
The  above  is  only  a  small  episode. 

Just  at  this  time  orders  came  from  the  Admiral 
to  send  the  Sphinx  on  a  cruise  to  the  Caroline 
Islands  to  try  and  rescue  a  shipwrecked  crew, 
whose  history  so  far  as  then  known  was  simply 
as  follows. 

An  English  barque  called  the  Noma  had 
sailed  from  Australia  for  Hong  -  Kong  with  a 
cargo  of  coals,  and  had  run  on  shore  on  the  St. 
Augustine  reef,^  latitude  6°  North  and  longitude 
158°  East,  and  become  a  wreck.  The  captain, 
first  mate,  and  some  men  had  escaped  in  the 
long-boat  and  reached  Manila,  whence  news  came 
to  China.  The  second  mate  and  remainder  of 
the  crew  were  left  on  the  reef. 

On  hearing  of  this  our  Admiral  had  sent  a 
ship,  the  Pioneer,  to  look  for  the  men  left  behind. 
She  reached  and  searched  the  reef,  but  found  no 
men  there,  only  a  record  in  a  bottle  saying  what 

•  On  the  same  reef  a  few  years  before  the  Constance  of  Antwerp 
was  wrecked.  Her  crew  got  away  in  two  boats,  one  of  which 
reached  the  Phihppine  Islands,  after  great  sufferings,  and 
having  killed  and  eaten  two  of  their  shipmates. 

102 


SEARCH  FOR  WRECKED  CREW  OF  THE  NORNA 

had  happened  and  that  they  also  had  left  the  reef 
in  a  small  boat.  The  Pioneer  returned  to  Hong- 
Kong,  but  the  i\dmiral  was  not  satisfied  and  so 
sent  the  Sphinx  for  further  search. 

At  this  time  that  ship's  Commander  had  just 
been  invalided  home,  and  her  First-lieutenant 
was  very  ill.  So  the  senior  officer  at  Hong-Kong 
ordered  me  to  go  in  her,  against  my  wish,  as  I 
wanted  to  join  the  flagship,  where  fighting  the 
rebels  was  going  on.  In  the  Navy  one  has  to  obey 
the  last  order,  so  I  joined  the  Sphinx.  She  was 
a  paddle-wheel  sloop  of  six  guns. 

From  Hong-Kong  we  went  to  Manila,  and 
then  searched  the  Eastern  Philippine  Islands  for 
the  missing  men  ;  thence  going  to  the  Pelew 
Islands,  a  most  interesting  group. 

In  1783  the  Antelope,  an  East  India  Company's 
ship,  was  wrecked  here,  and  the  King,  Abbe  Thule, 
let  his  son,  called  Prince  Le  Boo,  be  taken  to 
England,  where  he  died.  In  return  for  the 
kindness  of  the  natives  to  the  A^itelope's  crew, 
the  company  sent  a  present  of  cattle,  pigs  and 
fowls,  which  had  greatly  increased  in  numbers. 
The  cattle  were  almost  wild.  The  name  of  the 
islands  is  from  Palos,  the  Spaniards  giving  it  on 
account  of  the  tall  straight  trees. 

Arrived  at  Corror  Island,  where  the  King  lives, 
we  at  once  began  friendly  relations  with  him. 
He  knew  nothing  of  the  men  we  looked  for,  but  his 
quondam  subjects  at  Babelthuap  Island,  the 
largest  of  the  group,  led  by  a  Manila  trader  had 
revolted  ;  and  he  knew  not  if  our  missing  men 
were  there  or  not. 

103 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

When  the  King  returned  our  Commander's 
visit,  he  came  in  a  large  war  canoe,  and  dressed 
in  a  very  gaudy  uniform,  looking  like  that  of  a 
Spanish  Colonel. 

Soon  after  the  King  landed,  our  Commander 
did  so,  and  surprised  his  Majesty  reclining,  by 
the  side  of  the  road,  in  a  state  of  nature,  his 
uniform  lying  near,  and  trying  to  get  cool.  Still 
*  such  divinity  doth  hedge  a  King  '  that  his 
courtiers  stood  respectfully  round  him. 

So  to  Babelthuap  we  went  in  our  boats,  our 
acting-Commander,  Ralph  Brown  by  name,  and 
myself.  This  was  a  few  days'  pleasant  expedi- 
tion. The  natives  at  once  began  hostilities,  which 
lasted  two  days,  fighting  in  boats  and  up  the 
creeks  ;  but  the  Noma' s  men  were  not  there. 
On  our  return  to  Corror  we  were  received  with 
honour. 

In  Oceania  city  banquets  and  royal  decorations 
exist  not,  but  the  extremes  of  tropical  hospitality 
were  extended  to  us  ;  till  with  much  regret  we 
had  to  leave  these  most  friendly  people.  Our 
interpreter  was  a  man  called  John  Davey,  who  had 
been  a  seaman  in  a  brig  trading  to  the  Matilotas 
Islands,  not  far  off. 

When  leaving  all  hands  except  two  got  into 
a  boat  to  tow  the  brig  out.  The  natives  saw  their 
chance  and  boarded  the  vessel,  leaving  the  boat's 
crew  no  option  but  to  pull  to  sea  for  their  Hves. 
They  reached  the  Pelew  Islands,  and  afterwards 
all  but  Davey  left  in  a  passing  trader,  but  he 
having  a  native  wife,  and  still  more  being  tattooed 
all  over,  decided  to  finish  his  life  here.     His  case 

104 


PELEW   ISLANDS 

is  nearly  parallel  with  that  of  Gonzalo  Guerrero, 
in  Yucatan,  related  by  Washington  Irving. 

Trade  to  the  Pelew  Islands  was  small,  and 
chiefly  for  heche  de  mer  and  tortoiseshell.  The 
former  is  a  sea  slug,  about  six  inches  long,  found 
on  the  coral  reefs.  They  are  cut  open  and  dried, 
and  then  taken  to  China,  where  they  are  esteemed 
a  delicacy. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  a  few  years  after  our 
visit  a  white  man  was  killed  in  these  islands,  and 
a  man-of-war  was  sent  to  investigate  the  matter. 
Her  captain  had  no  good  interpreter,  but  was  full 
of  zeal.  It  was  evident  a  white  man  had  been 
killed,  and  as  something  had  to  be  done,  he  had 
our  dear  old  friend  Abbe  Thule  (still  the  title) 
shot.  I  fancy  this  is  not  the  first  time  zeal  has 
outrun  discretion  ! 

From  the  Pelew  Islands  we  started  eastward, 
having  an  almost  continuous  easterly  wind  to 
contend  with.  Expecting  this  we  had  brought 
many  axes.  We  now  called  at  various  islands,  and 
when  we  did  so  landed  our  men  and  cut  down 
trees,  and  brought  off  wood  till  we  could  only  just 
move  along  the  deck  ;  then  went  to  sea,  and  burnt 
the  wood  mixed  with  coal,  but  it  was  soon  expended, 
and  after  that  we  sailed  only  till  next  time. 

In  this  cruise  we  did  what  is  very  interesting 
but  equally  rare  now,  viz.  called  at  islands  where 
there  was  no  trace  of  their  having  had  intercourse 
with  Europeans.  These  islands  were  mostly 
roughly  indicated  on  the  chart,  but  that  was 
all.  Some  were  small  atolls,  with  only  twenty  or 
thirty   people   on    them.     Their    food   was    lish, 

105 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

fowls,    cocoanuts,    turtle    in    season,    and    some 
vegetables. 

Sharks  are  very  plentiful  in  the  Caroline 
Islands.  At  one  place  we  caught  several,  and  one 
day  I  remember  hauling  one  in,  and  on  cutting 
him  open  we  found  three  fins,  and  the  tail  of  one 
of  his  relations  inside  him,  and  not  yet  digested. 
They  belonged  no  doubt  to  some  caught  and  cut 
up  that  morning. 

At  the  same  place  I  and  the  paymaster  of  the 
ship  nearly  came  to  grief.  The  wind  was  blowing 
off  shore,  and  to  leeward  two  or  three  miles  off 
was  a  small  island.  We  started  in  a  skiff  under 
sail  to  run  down  to  it,  which  was  no  doubt  rash 
of  us. 

The  wind  got  worse,  we  could  not  return,  but 
got  through  the  fringing  coral  reef  and  landed. 
When  we  tried  to  return  our  boat  began  to  fill,  as 
soon  as  her  nose  was  outside  the  reef.  Thinking 
of  the  sharks  we  just  succeeded  in  re-landing, 
wet  through,  which,  however,  in  the  tropics 
matters  little.  We  took  off  our  clothes  to  dry 
them,  and  as  night  came  on  went  to  sleep.  Ulti- 
mately we  were  rescued  by  a  large  boat  from 
the  ship. 

My  companion,  one  of  the  best  messmates  I 
ever  had,  seemed  fated.  He  was  drowned  in  the 
Woosung  River,  below  Shanghai,  with  others,  their 
boat  being  swept  by  the  current  into  a  stake 
fishing-net. 

At  last  we  reached  the  Hogolu  Islands,  and 
as  one  morning  we  closed  the  land  saw  a  boat 
running   off  to   us   under   a  canvas   sail.     Great 

io6 


GUAM    ISLA   CARA 

excitement  prevailed.  She  came  alongside  with 
two  or  three  of  the  Noma's  men,  and  this  story. 
They  had  run  westward  before  the  wind,  and 
at  an  island  east  of  this  had  landed  for  water, 
and  the  natives  had  seized  some  of  their  crew, 
but  these  few  had  escaped  and  got  on  here.  As 
the  distance  was  not  many  miles,  we  made  a 
boat  expedition  there,  and  rescued  the  few  sur- 
vivors of  the  capture,  and  taught  their  captors  a 
lesson. 

The  kind  natives  of  Hogolu  were  rewarded  ; 
and  having  got  all  the  Noma's  crew  who  survived, 
we  bore  up  for  Hong-Kong,  via  Guam  in  the 
Mariana  Islands. 

Guam  Isla  Cara,  I  will  never  call  these  islands 
by  their  old  Spanish  name  of  '  Ladrones  '  (escepto 
del  corazon).  Magellan  discovered  these  islands 
in  1520.  But  the  days  are  long  past  when  Doctor 
Samuel  Johnson  could  write  of  such  : 

No  secret  island  in  the  boundless  main, 
No  peaceful  desert,  yet  unclaimed  by  Spain. 

Guam  now  flies  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  America 
seems  inclined  to  reciprocate  the  claims  once  made 
on  her  by  Iberia. 

In  Guam  few  horses  existed,  and  we  often  had 
to  put  up  with  oxen,  not  only  to  drive,  but  to 
ride.  We  spent  but  too  few  happy  days  there  in 
the  society  of  some  charming  Spanish  ladies, 
with  whom  more  than  one  of  us  fell  in  love,  and 
a  longer  stay  must  have  meant  marriage. 

I  will  say  no  more,  except  that  we  left  Guam 
with    the    greatest    regret,    and    finally    reached 

107 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

Hong  -  Kong  nearly  out  of  both  coal  and  "pro- 
visions. But  our  work  had  been  well  accom- 
plished, and  our  able  acting -Commander  was 
promoted. 

On  our  return — we  were  four  and  a  half  months 
without  any  news  of  the  world — we  heard  of  the 
sad  death  of  the  Prince  Consort,  then  four  months 
past ;  of  the  beginning  of  the  great  Civil  War 
in  the  then  Dis-united  States  of  America  ;  and 
of  how  nearly  the  Trent  affair  had  produced  war 
between  us  and  the  Federal  Government. 


On  leaving  the  Sphinx  I  went  to  Shanghai 
by  P.  &  O.  steamer  and  joined  the  Imperieuse, 
Admiral  Hope's  flagship,  and  my  former  vessel, 
as  a  mate.  She  was  lying  off  the  Settlement,  and 
very  exciting  times  were  passing. 

The  Taiping  rebels  were  devastating  the  pro- 
vince in  the  vicinity  of  Souchow  and  Shanghai, 
and  even  threatening  the  latter  place.  A  very 
mixed  contingent  had  been  organised  to  resist 
them,  and  at  this  time  it  was  commanded  by  a 
United  States  citizen  called  Ward,  who  I  believe 
had  been  a  filibuster  previously  in  America. 
Ward's  force  consisted  of  pretty  nearly  any 
white  man  that  he  could  get  ;  and  he  had  under 
him  some  deserters  from  our  Navy,  and  probably 
Army  too,  enticed  by  the  promise  of  good  pay 
and  occasional  loot. 

For  a  time  our  Admiral  did  not  countenance 
him  for  the  above  reason,  but  the  time  seemed 
to  show  that  it  was  best  to  make  use  of  him, 

io8 


THE    TAIPING    REBELS 

and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  he  was  acting  in  con- 
junction with  our  naval  and  miUtary  forces. 

I  knew  Ward  a  little.  He  was  my  idea  of  a 
typical  modern  western  state  soldier  of  fortune, 
energetic  and  quick,  with  a  fine  flow  of  strong 
language,  and  able  to  deal  with  the  very  mixed 
lot  under  his  command. 

Attacking  Singpoo  on  one  occasion  he  met  an 
acquaintance,  one  of  the  opposite  side,  and  fired 
at  him,  but  missed.  The  other  rejoined,  '  What  ! 
Captain,  can't  you  shoot  straighter  than  that  ?  ' 
and  put  a  revolver  bullet  into  his  mouth,  from 
which,  however,  he  recovered.  Not  long  after  he 
was  killed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ningpo,  and 
he  was  succeeded  in  the  command  by  a  man  of 
much  the  same  type  called  Burgevine,  whom  I 
also  remember. 

To  be  a  mercenary,  or  soldier  of  fortune,  is 
very  well  if  you  can  arrange  to  be  either  killed 
at  once,  or  only  slightly  wounded,  or  better  still 
not  wounded  at  all ;  but  their  position  if  maimed 
or  badly  hurt  is  a  poor  one. 

Burgevine  was  wounded  in  the  stomach,  and 
I  fancy  suffered  much  pain  which  drove  him  to 
drink.  Difficulties  ensued,  and  if  I  remember 
aright  he  turned  over  to  the  rebels'  side,  but 
was  taken  by  the  Imperialists. 
L  ■  i  The  United  States  Consul  made  interest  for 
him  with  the  Taotai  of  Shanghai,  but  the  only 
result  was  a  report  that  he  had  unfortunately 
been  drowned,  or  met  with  a  fatal  accident. 
Life  counted  for  very  little  then  and  there. 

About  the  time  I  got  to  Shanghai  our  Admiral 
109 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

was  wounded  in  action  with  the  Changmows,  and 
the  French  Admiral  Protet  was  killed. 

I  commanded  a  company  of  small-arm  men 
at  his  honorary  funeral.  I  say  honorary  because 
the  body  was  sent  to  France.  At  the  above 
ceremony  a  custom  I  have  not  seen  elsewhere  was 
observed  ;  viz.  that  the  men,  after  the  (temporary) 
interment  in  a  sort  of  cave,  all  defiled  past  the 
coffin  in  single  line,  and  as  they  did  so  each  in 
turn  discharged  a  blank  charge  from  his  rifle  into 
the  tomb. 

One  day  about  noon  at  Shanghai  a  large 
United  States  mail  steamer  about  to  sail  for  San 
Francisco  caught  fire.  She  was  lying  above  us 
and  the  current  was  running  strongly  down  the 
river.  I  went  on  board  with  men,  fire  engines,  &c., 
to  assist,  as  did  others  from  the  men-of-war  of  two 
or  three  nationalities.  The  ship  soon  became 
a  sheet  of  flame  forward,  and  evidently  could  not 
be  saved.  She  broke  from  her  moorings  and 
began  to  drift  helplessly  down  the  river  to  the 
alarm  of  the  many  ships  below. 

The  awkward  part  on  board  was  that  the 
seamen,  both  her  own  and  those  from  the  men- 
of-war,  got  at  the  wine  stores  and  began  to  hastily 
sample  the  liquor.  I  saw  men  with  a  bottle  in 
each  hand  of  different  brands,  the  necks  of  both 
bottles  knocked  off,  alternately  tasting  each, 
and  their  lips  bleeding  from  the  sharp  glass.  Our 
anxiety  of  course  was  not  to  leave  these  votaries 
of  Silenus  to  perish  in  a  fiery  furnace.  The 
steamer  was,  of  course,  destroyed,  but  no  other 
ship  was  damaged. 

no 


ATTEMPT   TO    RELIEVE    KAHDING 

About  this  time  an  unlucky  episode  occurred. 
Our  ship  was  almost  denuded  of  officers  and 
men.  From  the  Admiral  downwards,  all  who 
could  be  spared  were  away  fighting  the  rebels. 
Only  the  two  junior  lieutenants  remained  on 
board,  I  being  junior  of  all.  News  arrived  that 
the  town  of  Kahding  held  by  the  Imperialists, 
and  distant  some  thirty  miles,  was  fiercely  beset 
by  the  enemy,  and  unless  reinforced  would 
probably  fall. 

The  senior  naval  officer  at  Shanghai  was 
the  captain  of  a  man-of-war  troopship,  and  of 
course  was  referred  to.  He  decided  to  send  some 
hired  boats,  with  stores  and  ammunition  and 
what  men  could  be  scraped  together ;  also  a 
i2-pounder  brass  field-piece  that  remained  in  our 
ship,  with  its  seamen  crew,  and  a  midshipman ;  but 
that  his  first-lieutenant  should  go  in  command. 

Of  course  this  made  us  very  angry.  The  lieu- 
tenant, my  senior,  could  not  go,  being  in  charge 
of  the  ship,  but  I  could.  So  I  went  on  board  the 
senior  officer's  ship  politely  to  remonstrate,  until 
I  was  ordered  to  leave  his  ship  at  once. 

The  sequel  was  this  :  The  expedition  started, 
but  when  about  half-way,  going  along  a  narrow 
creek  came  to  a  town,  and  saw  a  strong  party  of 
rebels  entering  it.  They  landed  our  gun  to  fight 
it  and  had  to  cross  the  creek  by  a  narrow  stone 
bridge,  where  it  got  jammed.  The  rebels  won 
the  day,  the  gun  was  lost,  also  the  boats'  stores, 
&c.,  and  the  sole  survivors  were  those  who 
hastily  retired  with  only  what  they  stood  up  in. 

Our  Admiral  was,  of  course,  very  angry,  and 
III 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

the  Flag-Captain  said  to  me,  *  Well,  Seymour, 
of  course  they  should  have  sent  you,  but  you 
were  perhaps  well  out  of  it  as  your  choice  might 
have  been  to  be  killed  or  to  run  away.' 

Kahding  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  and 
I  was  at  the  re-taking  of  it  later  on.  Of  course 
in  all  fighting  with  the  Chinese,  especially  with 
the  rebels,  quarter  by  them  is  never  given.  It 
was  the  same  with  the  Boxers  in  1900. 

During  the  summer  of  1862  I  was  for  a  time 
away  in  command  of  a  small-arm  party  of  seamen, 
attached  to  the  soldiers,  and  under  the  superior 
command  of  the  Brigadier-General  (Stavely). 
This  of  course  we  enjoyed,  and  not  the  less  that 
we  then  got  Indian  pay  and  allowances.  I  was 
paid  as  a  captain  in  the  Army,  the  same  rank  as  a 
lieutenant,  R.N.,  which  just  doubled  my  pay. 
During  the  above  we  took  Singpoo  from  the  rebels, 
the  place  I  referred  to  before. 

The  summer  passed  away  in  the  above  manner, 
but  our  ship's  company  from  over-exposure  to 
the  heat,  &c.,  became  sickly,  and  we  went  to 
Chefoo  at  the  entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  Pechili 
to  recruit  our  health. 

In  October  we  returned  to  Shanghai,  and  an 
expedition  was  arranged  to  retake  Kahding, 
under  the  immediate  command  of  our  Admiral, 
and  with  some  French  allies.  I  had  command 
of  two  small-arm  companies.  This  part  of  China 
abounds  in  narrow  creeks,  and  our  way  there  was 
made  mostly  by  water. 

Society  at  Shanghai  possesses  many  house- 
boats,   commonly    called    '  chops,'    for    shooting, 

112 


CHOLERA   EPIDEMIC 

or  other  pleasure  parties,  to  go  away  and  live  in. 
One  of  these  seemed  desirable  for  our  accom- 
modation and  was  accordingly  *  requisitioned  ' 
by  my  enterprising  midshipmen  for  our  small 
family,  consisting  of  ourselves  and  a  commissariat 
officer,  always  a  very  good  friend  to  have. 

On  our  way  back  my  young  officers  annexed 
some  Chinese  coolies  employed  by  the  French, 
and  an  interchange  of  hostilities  in  consequence 
was  very  narrowly  avoided. 

The  attack  on  Kahding  was  well  arranged, 
and  the  place  soon  stormed  and  taken,  but 
misfortune  attended  our  return  in  the  shape  of 
an  epidemic  of  cholera.  This  was  the  first  time  I 
had  been  among  it  since  the  Black  Sea,  in  1854. 

I  suppose  everything  almost,  except  a  broken 
bone,  is  now  caused  by  a  microbe  ;  but  if  so  it  is 
curious  how  at  times  in  places  a  narrow  line  seems 
drawn  for  a  disease.  I  have  heard  of  it  in  ships, 
and  on  this  occasion  on  shore  at  Shanghai,  as 
regards  neighbouring  houses. 

The  above  was  our  last  active  service  against 
the  rebels,  and  our  Admiral,  whose  time  on  the 
station  had  already  been  extended,  was  relieved 
by  Admiral  Kuper. 

It  happened  that  at  this  moment  the  Imperial 
Contingent,  which  I  have  mentioned  on  p.  108, 
was  without  a  leader  owing  to  the  disappearance 
of  the  unhappy  Burgevine.  It  was  a  nice  ques- 
tion who  should  succeed  him.  No  one  seemed 
specially  prominent. 

At  this  juncture  Sir  James  Hope  proposed 
that  our  Captain  of  Marines,  who  was  a  ver^r  good 

113  « 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

officer,  and  had  for  a  year  on  and  off  been  em- 
ployed against  the  Taipings,  should  have  com- 
mand of  the  local  Imperial  Army.  This  was 
agreed  to  by  the  Taotai  of  Shanghai,  and  the 
above  officer  took  the  command,  with  his  subaltern 
from  our  ship  as  his  staff  officer. 

We  now  left  Shanghai,  but  what  followed 
was  that  in  a  very  few  months  the  above 
arrangement  broke  down.  The  post  was  without 
precedent,  and  required  perhaps  a  genius. 

There  happened  to  be  at  Shanghai  a  young 
and  then  unknown  officer  of  Royal  Engineers, 
named  Charles  George  Gordon,  to  whom  was 
given  the  command  of  what  then  acquired  the 
name  of  the  '  ever- victorious  army.' 

It  has  been  said  '  Happy  is  the  nation  that 
has  no  history,'  and  perhaps  the  same  applies  to 
a  sea  voyage,  for  an  ordinary  one  is  not  interesting 
to  the  general  reader.  From  Hong-Kong  we  left 
in  November  for  England,  of  course  round  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  nearly  four  months' 
voyage  took  us  to  Portsmouth,  where  we  paid  off 
in  March  1863.  The  commission  had  been  of 
much  interest,  and  the  ship  a  united  one,  and  had 
changed  her  officers  comparatively  little. 


114 


CHAPTER  X 

FLAG-LIEUTENANT 

Old  Portsmouth — Channel  Islands — Pirate  Story — Anecdote  of 
Nelson — Garibaldi — Lady  Smith — Royal  Yacht — French 
Fleet — Gale  of  Wind. 

In  March  1863  I  was  appointed  Flag-lieutenant 
to  my  uncle,  Admiral  Sir  Michael  Seymour,  the 
Commander-in-Chief   at   Portsmouth. 

In  those  days  most  admirals'  commands — 
except  dockyards  —  entitled  the  Admiral  on 
hauling  down  his  flag  to  give  a  commander's 
commission  to  a  lieutenant  qualified  by  seniority 
and  service  for  it.  It  was  customary,  and  almost 
understood,  that  these  promotions  went  to  the 
flag-lieutenant.  So  the  above  appointment  had 
much  advantage  for  me,  besides  a  three  years* 
spell  of  agreeable  service. 

It  was  really  my  introduction  to  shore  life 
and  society  in  England,  and  though  a  naval 
officer's  first  requirement  is  to  command  a  ship 
at  sea,  the  higher  he  gets  in  the  service  the 
more  he  needs  to  be  also  something  of  a  man  of 
the  world.     At  Portsmouth  much  could  be  picked 

115  I  2 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

up  of  one's  profession,  besides  which  I  got  the 
habit  of  reading,  and  learnt  one  or  two  things 
useful  in  society. 

No  old  town  that  I  know  is  nearly  so  much 
altered  as  Portsmouth  and  Portsea  are  since 
1863.  In  those  days  both  places  were  enclosed 
in  their  own  fortifications,  i.e.  regular  ramparts, 
with  ditches,  and  narrow  gates  with  drawbridges 
to  them. 

The  idea  was  that  each  town  should  be  inde- 
pendent of  the  other,  and  that  one  might  be 
taken  and  the  other  hold  out  ;  which  possibly 
could  once,  for  a  short  time,  have  been  the  case. 

Between  them  was  a  large  salt-water  lake, 
now  occupied  by  the  recreation  grounds  and 
public  gardens.  This  lake  was,  of  course,  fed 
from  the  harbour,  and  the  block  between  it  and 
the  sea  was  called  the  '  Mill  dam,'  because  a 
mill  had  stood  there  to  grind  corn  for  the  garrison 
as  required,  and  its  position  had  contained  the 
mill  redoubt. 

Just  beyond  the  present  Naval  Club  as  you 
go  towards  Southsea  were  the  southern  lines  of 
Portsmouth,  and  in  them  a  gate  and  a  drawbridge, 
at  which  it  is  said  Lord  Nelson  as  a  captain  was 
nearly  killed  by  the  horse  he  was  riding  bolting 
for  the  gate,  a  cart  being  in  it  and  no  room  to 
pass  ;  but  that  Captain  Nelson  saved  himself 
by  jumping  off  the  horse. 

When  I  entered  the  service  the  dockyard 
ended  at  the  Anchor  gate,  and  Whale  Island  was 
no  larger  than  a  big  ship's  upper  deck.  As 
regards  Portsmouth  Harbour,  it  is  reaUy  only  a 

116 


CHANNEL   ISLANDS   INSPECTION 

ditch  after  all,  much  increased  and  improved 
by  dredging.  But  it  can  only  be  entered,  or  left, 
by  large  vessels  at  limited  times  of  tide,  and  with 
tugs  to  help,  and  very  skilful  handling. 

Part  of  the  duty  of  the  Portsmouth  Port 
Admiral  was  to  visit  yearly  the  Channel  Islands, 
to  inspect  the  naval  boys'  training  establishment 
at  Gorey  in  Jersey.  This  he  did  in  his  official 
yacht  the  Fire  Queen,  a  paddle-wheel  steamer  that 
had  belonged  to  Mr.  Assheton  Smith,  of  fox- 
hunting renown. 

My  uncle  always  took  a  party,  among  them 
relations,  and  we  much  enjoyed  it.  Another 
vessel  was  required,  and  the  old  Sprightly  went. 
My  contemporaries  will  well  remember  her  and 
her  fine  old  '  Master  Commander,'  G.  Allen,  a 
regular  specimen  of  the  old  British  naval  salt. 

Allen  has  described  to  me  when  as  a  boy  he 
saw  the  crowd  run  to  see  Nelson  embark  for  the 
last  time  to  pull  off  to  the  Victory  at  St.  Helens 
in  September  1805.  Afterwards  Allen  served  in 
the  Walcheren  expedition. 

B}^  Mr.  Childers'  retirement  scheme  Allen  was 
retired  and  put  on  half-pay.  The  change  of  life 
soon  unhappily  killed  him  ! 

At  Alderney  one  sees  how  absurdly  the  public 
money  can  be  wasted,  more  than,  perhaps,  at 
any  other  place.  I  believe  the  history  of  it  is, 
that  when  during  the  Napoleonic  wars  we  were 
blockading  Cherbourg  it  was  thought  a  harbour 
at  Alderney  for  our  ships  to  run  into  for  shelter 
would  be  useful. 

The  work  was  begun  about  the  middle  of  last 
117 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

century,  and  as  ships  increased  in  length,  the  first 
plan  was  altered  by  turning  the  breakwater  out- 
wards to  give  more  room  inside  it.  This  made 
a  *  re-entrant  '  angle  and  a  weak  spot  through 
which  the  sea  made  a  breach. 

The  water  deepened  as  they  worked  out,  and  I 
think  about  1872  the  authorities  saw  what  an 
error  had  been  made  in  doing  anything  at  all 
there,  and  the  matter  was  abandoned.  The 
forts  also,  of  which  there  were  fifteen  erected  on 
the  island,  became  practically  valueless. 

The  interesting  and  surprising  thing  about  it, 
to  my  mind,  is  the  evidence  of  the  extraordinary 
power  of  the  sea  ;  I  have  been  there  as  late  as 
1877,  and  seen  pieces  of  rock  equal  in  bulk  to  a 
cube  three  feet  through,  that  after  a  heavy  gale 
from  seaward  were  found  lying  on  the  footway 
inside  the  breakwater. 

Now  the  breakwater  there  was  some  twenty 
feet  of  perpendicular  stone  wall  on  its  outer  side, 
of  which  say  half  was  above  high-water  mark  ; 
this  wall  sprang  from  a  slope  of  stone  foundation 
that  rose  from  a  depth  of  quite  ten  fathoms  there, 
so  the  above  piece  of  rock  must  have  been  lifted 
by  the  sea  and  thrown  over  the  wall.  At  least 
that  is  what  the  people  there  declared  must  be 
the  case. 

We  went  all  three  years  to  the  Channel  Islands 
and  called  at  St.  Malo  and  Cherbourg.  This 
latter  is  a  fine  specimen  of  what  art  alone  can  do 
to  create  a  naval  port,  but  such  a  one  can  never 
be  sa  tisfactory  against  the  modern  long-range  guns. 
The  statue  of  the  great  Napoleon  I  admired  with 

118 


A  PIRATE    STORY 

his  '  J'ai  resolu  de  renouveler  a  Cherbourg  les 
merveilles  de  TEgypte,'  mscribed  on  it.  Just  the 
sort  of  way  he  would  have  put  it  I  think. 

I  went  to  Mont  St.  Michel,  which  is  indeed 
unique,  and  overshadows  our  St.  Michael's 
Mount  in  Cornwall.  While  here  we  made  acquaint- 
ance with  a  young  priest  of  the  Roman  Church, 
who  was  anxious  to  point  out  to  us  the  mark  of 
the  foot  of  the  Archangel  Michael  when  he  de- 
scended and  first  alighted  on  a  rock  near  Doll,  a 
few  miles  inland  of  Mont  St.  Michel,  and  before 
the  Archangel  went  there. 

One  day  from  Portsmouth  I  went  with  the 
Admiral  to  visit  an  old  friend  of  his,  by  name 
Admiral  Walcote  ;  in  his  dining-room  was  the 
picture  of  a  fine  brigantine  lying  in  a  tropical 
creek,  of  which  the  owner  told  us  the  following 
story. 

He  was  First-lieutenant  in  the  Tyne  at  the 
time  in  the  West  Indies,  and  they  were  in  pursuit 
of  this  vessel  called  the  Zarngozanna,  which  was 
a  noted  pirate.  At  last  they  came  off  the  entrance 
to  a  narrow  creek  which  they  knew  of  in  the  Isle 
of  Pines,  and  where  the  pirate  ship  was  lying. 
Two  other  vessels  were  with  the  Tyne,  but  could 
not  go  up  the  creek ;  so  the  only  thing  to  do  was 
to  send  the  boats  in  and  attack  with  them.  This 
they  did,  and  after  a  good  fight  they  carried  the 
brigantine  and  defeated  her  crew. 

The  captain  of  her,  Aragonez  by  name,  a 
Spaniard,  was  not  killed  or  very  badly  wounded. 
He  was  taken  on  board  the  Tyne,  the  Captain  of 
which  said  to  him,  '  It  is  a  sad  thing,  sir,  to  see 

119 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

a  fine  young  man  like  V*^^  i^  ^^^^  position  '  ;  to 
which  the  pirate  rephed,  '  Don't  worry  yourself 
about  me;  if  I  had  got  you  I'd  have  hanged  you 
up  to  my  yardarm.'  There  is  the  true  pirate 
spirit  ! 

The  pirates  were  taken  to  Kingston,  Jamaica, 
tried,  and  twenty  of  them  hanged  at  '  Gallows' 
Point  '  now  Port  Royal,  when  the  pirate  captain 
cheered  his  men  up  to  the  gallows. 

Read  '  Tom  Cringle's  Log,'  that  book  whose 
descriptions  of  tropical  scenery  are  unsurpassed, 
and  in  Chapters  IX  and  XI  you  will  see  what 
might  almost  be  these  very  episodes  ;  though  I 
think  the  first  is  meant  for  another  occasion  also 
at  the  Isle  of  Pines,  which  is  an  island  south  of 
Havana,  in  Cuba.  Here  a  lieutenant  (Layton) 
went  in  in  a  gig  to  reconnoitre  and  was  fired  on  ; 
a  midshipman  (Stroud)  and  some  of  the  crew 
were  killed,  the  lieutenant  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  pirates  and  murdered.  Finally  the  pirates 
•  were  destroyed  and  their  schooner  which  they  had 
sunk  was  got  up  again. 

The  position  of  flag-lieutenant  at  a  home 
port  has  its  advantages  and  pleasures,  but  pro- 
vides no  matters  of  professional  interest. 

I  preferred  hunting  to  any  other  sport,  and 
carried  it  out  as  far  as  I  could  afford  to.  There 
were  three  other  lieutenants  stationed  in  the  port, 
who  were  equally  fond  of  it,  and  so  we  often  made 
a  party.  We  were  nearly  always  with  the  Ham- 
bledon  Hounds,  because  they  were  our  nearest  ; 
at  that  time  their  master  was  Earl  Poulett,  who 
spent  a  lot  of  money  on  them,  though  the}^  were 

120 


HUNTING 

also  a  subscription  pack.  Four  advertised  meets 
a  week  were  the  regular  thing,  but  they  were 
often  out  more  than  that. 

I  have  seen  our  M.F.H.  amused  and  heard  him 
make  caustic  remarks  on  young  naval  officers,  when 
things  were  dull,  *  larking '  over  anything  pro- 
mising that  was  near.  But  in  many  cases  the 
mounts  were  '  hirelings, '  and  the  Sea  Nimrod  was 
anxious  to  get  his  money's  worth  out  of  the 
animal. 

I  believe  some  people  have  wondered  that 
sailors  should  be  so  fond,  as  they  often  are,  of 
riding  ;  but  if  you  consider  the  classic  legend  of 
the  naming  of  Athens,  I  think  you  will  see  we 
have  a  natural  tendency — or  right — to  be  fond 
of  horses,  considering  that  their  origin  is  there 
said  to  be  owed  to  our  Father  Neptune. 

We  used  also  to  go  with  the  H.H.  and  the 
Hursley  Hounds,  but  that  mostly  required  train- 
ing out  and  home,  which  was  an  extra  expense  to 
be  more  rarely  indulged  in.  I  have  also  been 
with  Mr.  Neville's  staghounds  in  the  Basingstoke 
direction.  The  carted  stag  is  not,  of  course,  the 
real  sport  of  hunting  a  wild  animal,  but  it  ensures 
a  good  gallop. 

I  remember  once  with  these  hounds  we 
crossed  the  track  of  the  Vine  (fox)  Hounds  running 
a  fox,  and  the  stronger  scent  I  suppose  of  our 
quarry  attracted  several  of  them  from  their  own 
trail. 

Admiral  Sir  George  Westphal  paid  a  visit  to 
my  uncle  at  Portsmouth  and  related  to  us  an 
interesting  story  about  Trafalgar.      It  was  this  : 

121 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

He  was  a  midshipman  in  the  Victory,  and  soon 
after  Nelson  was  wounded,  he  (Westphal)  was  hit 
in  the  head,  carried  below  and  put  down  near  the 
Admiral,  who  noticed  him  and  asking  who  it  was, 
said,  'Put  my  coat  under  his  head.'  This  was 
done,  and  as  Westphal' s  head  was  bleeding  his 
hair  stuck  to  the  bullion  of  the  Admiral's  epau- 
lette, and  to  get  the  coat  away  they  cut  off  some 
of  the  bullion,  which  he,  of  course,  kept. 

He  said  to  me,  '  If  you  look  carefully  at 
Nelson's  coat  in  the  Painted  Hall  at  Greenwich 
you  will  see  that  some  of  the  bullion  has  been  cut 
off  '  ;  this  I  have  done.  I  told  this  story  to 
Admiral  Mahan,  who  regretted  he  had  not  known 
it  before  he  wrote  the  life  of  Nelson.  I  advise 
young  people,  if  they  have  the  opportunity  of 
hearing  from  older  ones  interesting  occurrences 
in  which  the  latter  were  concerned  long  ago,  to 
try  and  do  so. 

In  April  1865  we  had  a  visit  at  Portsmouth 
from  Garibaldi,  and  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
he  was  received  in  England  was  quite  extra- 
ordinary. He  came  dressed,  as  he  is  usually 
represented,  in  a  red  flannel  shirt,  no  coat,  a  soft 
light-coloured  hat,  and  light-coloured  trousers. 
He  was  a  rather  handsome  and  decidedly  dignified 
man,  with  a  grave,  but  pleasant  expression. 

He  lunched  with  the  x\dmiral,  and  I  after- 
wards took  him  to  Southsea  to  visit  an  old  friend, 
a  Mrs.  White.  It  was  not  easy  to  find  her ;  when 
we  did  it  was  up  a  narrow  cul  de  sac,  so  we  got 
out  of  the  carriage  and  walked.  I  mention  this 
because   I   was   struck  by   the   effrontery   of   an 

122 


GARIBALDI— LADY  SMITH— GENERAL  TODLEBEN 

Irishwoman  who,  amidst  the  cheers  for  Garibaldi 
of  the  few  spectators,  put  her  head  out  of  her 

window,  shook  her  fist  and  called  out (not 

a  blessing)  to  the  man  that  would  pull  down  the 
Pope. 

Among  many  guests  staying  in  the  Admiralty 
House  I  remember  Lady  Smith,  widow  of  the 
General,  Sir  Harry  Smith.  Her  name  is  immor- 
talised by  the  famous  Boer  siege  of  the  town 
named  after  her,  and  defended  by  Sir  George 
White.  Her  meeting  with  her  future  husband 
was  romantic  ;  when  Badajos  was  stormed  and 
about  to  be  sacked,  she,  then  a  girl,  found,  and 
threw  herself  by  chance  on  the  protection  of, 
Harry  Smith,  then  a  subaltern,  who  fell  in  love 
with  the  charming  young  Spaniard,  and  after- 
wards married  her. 

She  often  wore  an  order  given  her  for  being 
under  fire  in  India.  Even  when  I  knew  her  she 
spoke  with  a  very  Spanish  accent. 

We  also  had  a  visit  from  the  great  General 
Todleben,  the  practical  defender  of  Sevastopol. 
He  was  a  tall,  strong-built,  soldierly  looking  man, 
with  good  high-class  Russian  manners.  He  spoke 
French  and  German,  but  not  English,  which  he 
said  he  meant  to  learn. 

In  1865  I  was  lent  to  the  Victoria  and  Albert 
for  her  cruise  to  Kingston  to  convey  H.R.H.  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (our  late  lamented  King  Edward 
VII)  to  open  the  Exhibition  at  Dublin.  The 
Irish  showed  immense  enthusiasm,  and  apparent 
loyalty,  which  I  believe  most  of  them  renlly  feel 
at  such  a  time.     It  is,  however,  but  fair  to  say 

123 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

that  the  presence  and  patronage  of  Royalty  in 
Ireland  are  not  as  encouraging  to  that  country  as 
they  are  to  Scotland. 

The  Royal  yacht  was  the  most  agreeable 
vessel  I  ever  did  duty  on  board.  As  regards 
discipline,  it  seemed  natural  to  all  in  her,  and 
not  only  were  the  men  all  of  good  character,  but 
the  idea  of  dismissal  from  '  the  yacht  '  was 
sufficient  deterrent  from  misconduct. 

While  at  Holyhead  we  visited  the  South 
Stack  lighthouse,  where  the  sea-gulls  are  so  tame 
that  the  sitting  hen  only  just  moves  off  her  nest 
if  required  for  a  lighthouse-keeper  to  take  an 
egg  from  under  her;  no  barndoor  fowl  seems 
tamer. 

In  1865  we  had  a  grand  official  visit  from  the 
French  Fleet.  It  was  many  years  since  the  last 
one.  Great  preparations  were  made,  and  it  all 
went  off  very  well.  The  Admiralty  gave  a  great 
ball  in  the  Naval  College  in  the  dockyard.  The 
enclosed  stone-paved  courtyard  in  the  half  H 
of  the  building  was  all  floored  over  and  made  the 
ballroom,  the  windows  all  round  were  taken  out 
and  the  rooms  utilised  as  required.  About  1640 
people  were  counted  into  the  place  as  guests,  and 
the  entertainment  lasted  till  nearly  6  a.m.,  as 
I  well  remember. 

But  perhaps  the  most  extensive  fete  of  the 
occasion  was  that  given  by  the  Municipality  of 
Portsmouth  of  the  Governor's  Green.  It  lasted 
in  all  about  twelve  hours.  Beginning  at  3  p.m. 
with  a  promenade  concert  and  succeeded  by  a 
banquet,     it  then  gracefully  shaded  off    into    a 

124 


A   GALE   OF  WIND 

ball,  towards  the  conclusion  of  which  some  of 
the  society  of  Portsmouth,  who  had  somehow 
not  had  invitations,  graced  the  occasion  with 
their  presence,  and  did  not  detract  from  the 
conviviality  ! 

Just  before  I  left  Portsmouth  there  came  on 
one  Sunday  morning  a  gale  of  wind,  more  nearly 
approaching  a  hurricane  in  force  than  anything 
I  remember  in  England.  Next  day  the  streets 
were  strewn  with  tiles,  chimney-pots,  &c.,  and 
many  trees  both  there  and  in  the  country  near 
were  blown  down  ;  but  what  I  want  to  mention 
is  that  in  the  afternoon  the  harbour  could  not  be 
crossed. 

A  ship  had  gone  ashore  off  Haslar  and  I  was 
anxious  to  get  over  to  the  wreck,  but  no  water- 
man would  try  it.  I  met  the  Commander  of 
Coastguard,  Frederick  Robinson,  who  wanted  to 
get  there  too,  and  had  his  service  boat  manned 
and  offered  me  a  passage.  But  the  moment  we 
were  exposed  to  the  wind  blowing  right  into  the 
harbour  the  seas  began  to  sweep  over  our  boat, 
and  we  only  just  succeeded  in  turning  her  round, 
and  by  baling  hard  getting  back  before  she  was 
quite  swamped. 

In  March  1866  my  uncle  hauled  down  his 
flag  at  Portsmouth,  and  I  was  given  what  was 
called  the  'haul-down  promotion,'  and  so  made 
a  commander,  and  went  on  half-pay  for  the  first 
time. 


125 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE   MAZINTHIEN 


Wolfrock  —  Peterhead  —  Young  Surgeons  —  Sailing  North  — 
Whales — Seals — Walrus — Bears — Arctic  Interests — Sir  John 
Frankhn — Festivity. 

The  summer  of  1866  was  my  first  real  freedom 
since  I  entered  the  Navy,  and  as  such  was  greatly 
appreciated  by  me.  But  at  that  date  there  were 
comparatively  few  positions  for  commanders  as 
second  in  command,  and  those  were  usually 
offered  to  officers  who  had  been  old  first-lieu- 
tenants of  ships,  and  commanders  were  frequently 
three  years  and  over  before  they  got  separate 
commands.  I  had  thus  the  prospect  of  long 
half-pay,  and  to  consider  how  to  occupy  it. 

During  the  summer  being  at  Penzance  I  visited 
the  Wolfrock  off  the  Land's  End,  where  a  light- 
house was  then  being  built  by  Mr.  W.  Douglas. 
Probably  none  more  difficult  to  build  exists. 

The  rock  is  of  killas  or  green  stone,  which  is 
very  hard;  it  is  oblong,  the  extreme  size  no  by 
140  feet  at  low  water  and  then  quite  steep  below. 
We  landed  with  difhculty  in  cork  jackets  by  order, 
as  we  might  have  to  swim  off.     It  took  two  years' 

126 


WOLFROCK   LIGHTHOUSE— ABOARD  A   WHALER 

work  to  prepare  for  laying  the  first  stone  of  the 
Wolf,  and  three  years  to  place  the  three  first 
stones  of  the  lowest  course  :  while  the  present 
Eddystone  Lighthouse  was  built  in  that  time. 

It  took  about  eight  years  to  complete  the 
Wolfrock  Lighthouse.  The  stones  up  to  the 
twentieth  course,  where  the  entrance  door  is,  are 
fastened  together  by  cement,  by  metal  bolts, 
about  two  feet  long,  half  being  in  each  course  of 
stone,  and  by  slate  joggles,  a  foot  long  and  six 
inches  square,  placed  with  half  of  them  in  each 
course.  The  Wolfrock  light  so  far  is  a  great 
success.  I  published  an  account  of  my  visit  in 
the  Nautical  Magazine  for  September  1866. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  I  soaked  myself 
in  Arctic  literature,  and  felt  anxious  to  see  those 
regions,  and  if  we  had  another  Arctic  expedition 
to  join  in  it.  So  early  in  1867  I  arranged  to 
go  for  a  northern  cruise  in  the  whaling  ship 
Mazinthien  of  Peterhead. 

This  vessel  was  about  400  tons,  a  full-rigged 
ship,  but  with  an  auxiliary  screw  able  to  drive  her 
about  seven  knots.  Her  name  is  from  an  Indian 
chief,  she  having  been  built  at  Miramichi  in 
New  Brunswick.  She  was,  of  course,  immensely 
strengthened  to  stand  the  ice.  Her  captain  was 
Mr.  John  Gray,  a  first-rate  seaman,  and  of  a 
regular  old  whaling  family,  Peterhead  being  then, 
and  for  several  years  before,  a  great  whaling  port. 
Our  total  complement  was  fifty-five.  She  carried 
two  mates,  a  spectioneer,  four  harpooners,  two 
engineers,  and  various  other  odd  ratings,  besides 
a  surgeon ;    but  these  latter  in  the  whaling  ships 

127 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

were  usually  young  medical  students  from  Edin- 
burgh, who  having  '  outrun  the  constable  '  felt 
safer  at  sea,  and  anxious  not  to  revisit  '  Auld 
Reekie  '  till  they  had  a  few  '  bawbees  '  in  their 
pockets. 

One  day  when  we  were  in  the  ice  a  man  in 
another  ship  had  his  leg  so  smashed  that  it  had 
to  be  amputated ;  the  various  young  '  Galens  ' 
near  were  invited  to  assemble  and  consult,  but 
each  was  anxious  that  another  should  undertake 
the  operation.  I  was  assured  that  it  was  at  last 
performed  with  a  clasp  knife  and  the  carpenter's 
saw  :   what  became  of  the  patient  I  do  not  know. 

The  year  before  the  surgeon  of  our  ship  (the 
same  as  in  my  year)  took  to  his  bed  on  going 
south  ;  the  Captain  visited  him  and,  after  inquir- 
ing for  his  symptoms  and  consulting  the  medical 
book  he  had,  gave  as  his  diagnosis  that  the  patient 
had  delirium  tremens  ;  it  was  thought  best  to  get 
him  out  of  his  bed,  when  the  unhappy  man  was 
found  to  have  been  lying  on  a  collection  of  empty 
bottles  which  he  secreted  there  till  the  ship's 
southward  route  took  her  to  dark  nights,  when 
the  bottles  could  be  consigned  to  the  deep.  The 
moral  of  this  is,  when  in  a  whaler  do  not  be  ill 
or  have  an  accident  ! 

On  19th  March  1867  we  left  Peterhead  and 
began  a  very  rough  and  most  unpleasant  voyage 
to  the  North.  The  ship  was  very  livel3^  and  a 
whaler  is  not  built  for  comfort — the  men's  quarters 
are  indeed  bad.  They  sleep  in  bunks,  often  two 
men  in  one  bunk;  cleanliness  is  not  thought  of, 
nor  perhaps  what  is  said  to  be  next  to  it.     Our 

128 


BOUND   FOR  GREENLAND 

only  religious  observance,  if  such  it  be,  was  that 
every  Friday  we  had  salt  fish  for  dinner. 

The  dirt  of  a  whaler  and  her  crew  must  almost 
be  seen  to  be  believed ;  as  for  the  men,  their  faces 
become  like  niggers,  and  washing  at  all  with  many 
is  relegated  to  a  very  dubious  date. 

Though  the  ship  had  steam  power,  it  was  kept 
mostly  to  move  her  when  beset  by  ice.  Wind 
binds  the  ice  floes  together,  but  when  it  is  calm 
they  are  much  more  easily  pushed  apart,  and 
channels  made  among  them. 

Our  crew  were  not  over-sober  when  we  sailed, 
and  even  the  first  mate  was  so  overcome  by  his 
feelings  on  discovering  that  his  son  and  heir, 
fourteen  years  old,  had  stowed  himself  away  on 
board  that  he  required  too  much  of  the  national 
liquid  to  steady  his  nerves. 

By  the  end  of  March  we  were  among  the  ice 
floes,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Jan  Mayen 
Island.  Our  destination  was  what  is  called 
'  Greenland,'  i.e.  the  sea  between  it  and  Spits- 
bergen, in  distinction  from  the  course  to  the 
westward  of  Greenland,  to  Baffin  Bay,  and  called 
'Up  the  Straits.' 

I  may  here  remark  that  the  whaling  business 
altered  much  as  time  went  on.  Those  who  have 
read  that  most  interesting  book  by  Scoresby 
on  whaling  voyages  know  that  a  hundred  years 
ago  the  right  whale  was  far  more  plentiful  than  it 
is  now,  and  vessels  could  then  anchor  in,  say, 
Magdalena  Bay  in  Spitsbergen,  land  their  appa- 
ratus for  boiling  down  the  blubber,  and  with  their 
boats  catch  many  whales  in  the  offing.     This  is 

129  ^ 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

now  all  over,  and  it  seems  possible  that  the  right 
whale  will  become  extinct  before  very  long. 

My  readers  may  know  that  there  are  many 
kinds  of  whales,  i.e.  of  sea  warm-blooded  mammals, 
somewhat  fishlike  in  shape,  and  having  no  hinder 
limbs.  These  are  divided  into  two  general  classes, 
viz.  the  Baloena  species  for  those  that  have  whale- 
bone instead  of  teeth,  and  the  Delphinus  species 
that  have  teeth  and  no  whalebone;  of  the  latter 
class  the  sperm  whale  or  Macrocephalus  is  the 
largest,  and  most  valuable,  and  best  known. 

Of  the  former,  first  in  value  is  the  Balcena 
mysticetus,  called  generally  the  '  right  whale,' 
because  it  is  the  one  most  wanted  by  the  Northern 
whalers.  The  Yankees  call  it  the  '  bowhead,' 
because  of  the  shape  of  its  profile.  *  Whalebone,' 
I  may  be  allowed  to  state,  is  a  set  of  horny  prongs 
or  spikes  attached  to  both  jaws ;  when  the  mouth 
is  shut  they  fit  into  each  other,  as  the  fingers  of 
two  hands  might,  and  having  a  thick  hairy  coating 
to  them,  thus  form  a  sort  of  sieve. 

The  right  whales  feed  on  medusae,  which  are 
about  the  size  of  a  grain  of  rice.  Having  found 
a  part  of  the  sea  where  these  abound,  the  whale 
swims  with  his  mouth  open,  and  when  he  feels 
there  are  many  medusae  inside  it,  he  closes  his 
mouth ;  and  the  above  sieve,  wlien  he  then 
squirts  the  water  out,  retains  the  medusae,  which 
he  swallows  and  thus  feeds  himself. 

When  the  above  so-called  '  whalebone  '  is 
six  feet  long  in  the  upper  jaw,  the  whale  is 
called  '  sized.'  The  oil  is,  of  course,  got  from  the 
blubber,  which  may  be  considered  the  creature's 

130 


WHALES  AND  SEALS 

great  coat,  as  it  keeps  him  warm.  When  I  was 
in  the  whaler,  the  oil  was  worth  about  ^{45  a  ton, 
and  with  the  value  of  the  whalebone  1  a  very  large 
whale  would  be  worth  about  ;f2000  in  all.  A 
whale  is,  of  course,  not  a  fish,  but  the  whalers 
always  call  it  so,  and  indeed  to  them  '  a  fish  ' 
is  nothing  else. 

The  object  of  our  voyage  was  to  get  both  seals 
and  whales  if  possible.  Many  other  ships  were 
bent  on  the  same  errand.  In  the  Arctic  regions 
there  are  four  species  of  sea  seal,  viz.  the  Phoca 
hispida,  or,  as  it  is  called,  '  bladder  nose,'  from 
a  sort  of  appendage  over  the  nose  in  the  male  only 
which  is  inflatable  ;  these  are  the  largest  seals 
there  and  grow  to  ten  feet  long.  Next  the 
Phoca  greenlandica  or  '  saddle-back,'  so  called 
from  the  marking  like  a  saddle  on  its  back :  they 
grow  to  about  seven  or  eight  feet  long.  Next  the 
'  floerat,'  as  called  by  the  sealers  ;  these  grow 
to  about  three  and  a  half  feet  long.  Also  a 
ground  or  shallow  water  seal  only  found  near  the 
land. 

The  saddle-back  is  by  far  the  most  numerous 
there  ;  and  I  have  been  in  the  '  crow's  nest  '  at 
the  masthead  with  ice  all  round,  and  thickly 
covered  with  the  '  saddle-back  '  seals.  Thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  them — such  a  sight  of 
warm-blooded  animal  life  as  I  think  can  be  seen 
nowhere  else.  These  are  the  seals  sought  in  the 
Arctic  regions;  they  are  not  fur  seals  at  all,  but 
their  skins  make  fine  soft  leather,  and  their 
blubber  yields  oil  worth  about  ^^40  a  ton. 

'  Used  principally,  I  believe,  for  ladies'  corsets. 

131  K2 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

Birds  are  of  various  types ;  the  mallemuck  is 
by  far  the  most  numerous,  but  rarely  seen  south 
of  62°  N.  There  are  the  lordly  Burgomaster 
gull,  the  graceful  snow  bird,  the  placid  puffin, 
the  greedy  mallemuck  and  the  lively  kittywake, 
besides  others. 

In  April  the  young  seals  are  born  on  the  ice, 
and  they  and  their  mothers  are  killed  and 
skinned.  It  is  a  most  pathetic  scene,  and  painful 
to  witness.  In  about  a  month  the  young  can 
take  to  the  water  and  shift  for  themselves  ;  the 
mothers  then  leave  them  and  go  away  with  the 
males  who  are  waiting  for  them.  The  first  is 
called  the  *  young  sealing  '  ;  now  comes  the 
other,  or  'old  sealing,'  when  you  hunt  the  seals 
up  and  shoot  them  as  you  can.  About  this  there 
is  often  real  sport. 

I  have  frequently  noticed  that  if  you  approach 
a  seal  right  in  front  of  him,  he  does  not  seem  to 
make  you  out  nearly  as  quickly  as  if  you  are  on 
one  side  of  him.  Paley,  in  his  '  Natural  Theology,' 
at  p.  16,  says  he  believes  that  the  seal  has  not 
the  ability  to  see  an  object  with  both  eyes  as  if  it 
were  only  one  object — is  this  true  ? 

Also  I  have  noticed,  when  stalking  sleeping 
seals  over  the  ice,  if  one  scents  you  and  raises 
his  head,  the  others  do  so  too  ;  but  if,  when  you 
have  lain  down  quietly,  the  first  alarmed  again 
reposes  himself,  the  others  do  the  same. 

A  seal  in  motion  is  not  very  easy  to  kill.  On 
the  ice  it  bobs  up  and  down  as  it  goes  on,  and 
unless  you  hit  it  right  through  the  head  or  heart, 
it  will  probably  escape.     In  the  water  you  must, 

132 


KILLING  A  WALRUS 

of  course,  wait  till  it  shows  its  head,  and  then  if 
you  kill  it  at  once  the  head  sinks  under  the  water, 
the  air  does  not  at  once  escape,  and  it  may  float 
till  picked  up. 

One  day  we  saw  a  large  walrus  on  the  side 
of  an  ice  floe  and  a  boat  went  after  it.  I  was  in 
her  with  the  second  mate.  In  the  bow  was  a 
harpoon  gun ;  I  was  anxious  to  fire  it,  but  the 
second  mate  said  that  he  was  more  used  to  them, 
and  therefore  the  best  hand  at  it.  I  was  just 
behind  him  with  my  rifle.  The  walrus  was 
asleep  on  ice  some  eight  feet  high,  the  lovely 
snow  bird  and  greedy  mallemuck  walking  about 
close  to  and  fro,  now  and  then  arousing  him  with 
their  cries.  At  last  he  woke  and  reared  up  his 
ponderous  form.  The  second  mate  fired  the  gun 
and  both  he  and  I  at  once  disappeared  in  the 
bottom  of  the  boat.  What  had  happened  ?  Is 
the  walrus  on  top  of  us?  Happily  no;  but  the 
swivel  of  the  gun  has  broken,  and  the  second 
mate,  with  a  terrible  gash  on  his  face,  and 
the  gun,  are  on  top  of  me.  I  shake  myself  clear 
and  with  my  rifle  finish  off  the  walrus,  who  is 
trying  to  capsize  our  boat.     I  have  his  head  now. 

Sometimes  we  saw  polar  bears,  and  chased 
them  over  the  ice ;  it  is  wonderful  how  well,  heavy 
as  they  are,  they  can  get  over  ice  barely  strong 
enough  for  a  man's  weight.  We  got  a  few  at 
which  I  assisted.  The  polar  bear  Ursus  maritimus 
is  so  called  because  he  is  almost  amphibious. 

The  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood,  in  his  book,  '  Homes 
without  Hands,'  Chapter  I,  says  that  the  female 
polar   bear,  when  expecting  to  have   cubs,    first 

133 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

eats  enormously,  and  then  towards  December 
scrapes  a  hole  in  the  snow  near  a  rock,  lies  down 
and  lets  the  snow  cover  her ;  this  forms  a  cell  in 
which  she  stays  during  her  accouchement,  and 
suckles  her  cubs  till  March,  when  she  emerges 
with  them.  She  usually  has  twins.  Her  breath 
keeps  open  a  hole  in  the  snow  which  provides  her 
with  air  to  breathe. 

It  was  irresistible  to  wander  over  the  ice  floes 
with  a  gun  or  rifle,  but  one  should  not  go  alone  as 
the  ice  is  apt  to  be  treacherous.  Twice  when 
alone  I  nearly  came  to  grief.  The  ice,  newly 
frozen,  gave  way  and  let  me  in,  but  I  at  once 
threw  myself  forward  and  spread  out  my  arms, 
thus  covering  as  much  ice  as  possible.  In  this 
way  I  struggled  on  to  firm  ice,  and  eventually 
regained  the  ship,  with  both  gun  or  rifle,  but  with 
frozen  clothes. 

On  one  occasion  when  with  others  I  regularly 
fell  in,  and  was  hardly  consoled  by  being  told  I 
was  now  a  '  Freeman  of  Greenland.'  This  occurred 
owing  to  the  ice  having  got  rotten  in  the  late 
spring.  At  the  '  old  sealing  '  I  usually  went  away 
in  a  boat  for  several  hours,  regardless  of  time, 
as  the  sun  was  always  above  the  horizon.  It  was 
a  fine  healthy  life,  and  the  fresh  air  of  the  best. 

Accidents  of  course  occur,  through  careless 
shooting  and  nips  of  the  ice,  but  one  only  wonders 
the  first  are  not  more  common. 

The  air  is  wonderfully  clear.  I  have  seen 
Mount  Beerenberg,  6700  feet  high,  quite  clearly 
eighty  miles  off. 

Life  in  a  whaling  ship  has  many  phases  foreign 

134 


LIFE  ON   A  WHALER 

to  the  shore,  and  very  different  from  a  man-of-war. 
I  remember  one  afternoon,  when  we  had  been 
unlucky  in  getting  anything,  the  mate  came  into 
the  cabin  to  take  off  his  sea  boots  and  warm  his 
feet  before  the  stove,  on  top  of  which,  in  a  boiler, 
was  always  kept  a  decoction  of  tea,  well  boiled, 
and  calculated  to  ruin  the  stomach  and  nerves 
of  anyone  but  a  Caledonian  sailor. 

Enter  the  steward,  by  name  Alexander,  and 
of  course  called  *  Sandy,'  in  a  great  state  of 
excitement,  because  the  captain  had  just  well 
abused  him. 

The  mate  said,  '  Ah  weel,  Sandy,  do  ye  ken 
there  was  a  man  called  Napoleon  Bonaparte  ?  ' 

Sandy  replied,  '  Ah  ken  it.' 

The  mate  rejoined,  '  He  was  at  St.  Helena, 
and  one  day  going  down  the  hill  by  a  narrow 
path  overtook  two  ladies  also  descending,  and 
met  an  old  man  coming  up  and  carrying  a  heavy 
load.  The  ladies  kept  to  the  path  ;  but  Napoleon 
stepped  on  one  side  and  said,  "  Ladies,  if  you  do 
not  respect  the  man,  respect  the  burden.'" 

It  is  curious  how  many  whalers  take  up  a  dog 
or  two.  We  had  three  large  ones.  Of  these 
one  named  *  Teazer  '  one  day  had  a  fit.  I  was 
below  when  they  called  out  to  me,  '  Teazer  has 
gone  mad.'  I  ran  on  deck  and  saw  he  was  in  a  fit. 
The  scene  was  amusing.  Many  of  the  men  had 
taken  to  the  rigging,  but  the  more  courageous 
were  getting  rifles  to  shoot  the  dog.  I  dragged 
him  right  aft,  and  tied  him  up  there,  this  being 
the  only  condition  on  which  they  would  spare  his 
life.     In  time  he  recovered. 

135 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

During  the  cruise  I  had  various  occupations  : 
kept  the  log,  took  sights  for  the  reckoning,  went 
aloft,  often  to  the  crow's  nest  (a  cask  secured  to 
the  main-top-gallant  mast)  ;  sometimes  I  conned 
the  ship,  or  took  a  trick  at  the  helm  and  helped 
in  various  jobs  for  many  hours  together.  And  I 
was  frequently  away  in  the  boats,  working  as 
one  of  the  crew,  and  shooting  seals,  a  most  healthy 
outdoor  life.  When  tacking  the  ship  it  was 
often  curious  to  see  at  the  order  '  Mainsail  haul  ' 
how  a  heavy  shower  of  ice  frozen  on  to  the  rigging 
aloft  came  down  on  us  on  deck. 

The  tragic  story  of  the  expedition  under  Sir 
John  Franklin  has  always  to  me  possessed  great 
interest.  I  only  refer  to  it  here  because  of  what 
the  mate  of  the  Mazinthien  told  me,  which  I  will 
preface  by  one  or  two  remarks. 

Arctic  exploration  has  in  my  opinion  ten 
times  the  interest  of  Antarctic,  for  the  following 
reasons.  When  the  first  attempts  were  made 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  great 
hopes  were  entertained  that  a  practical  short 
passage  for  ships  from  Europe  to  China  would  be 
found.  Arctic  voyagers,  though  they  failed  to 
find  that,  found  human  beings  (the  Esquimaux) 
and  animals  of  many  kinds  and  in  profusion, 
besides  an  intricacy  of  bays,  creeks,  and  islands 
to  examine  and  chart. 

In  the  Antarctic  nothing  comparable  to  the 
above  may  be  said  to  exist.  Since  Sir  James 
Ross  in  1841  with  H.M.S.  Erebus  and  Terror 
discovered  Victoria  Land  and  the  mountains 
named  after  his  ships,  it  has  been  pretty  apparent 

136 


ARCTIC   EXPLORATION 

that  a  lofty  and  large  island,  in  fact  a  continent, 
covered  the  area  about  the  South  Pole,  and  further 
researches  have  shown  that  continent  to  be  bare 
of  life,  except  as  to  some  birds. 

That  the  interests  and  attractions  of  the  North 
are  not  to  be  found  in  the  South  only,  if  anything, 
adds  to  the  heroic  efforts  that  have  been,  and  are 
being,  made  to  reach  the  South  Pole  ;  but  the 
North  to  my  mind  must  always  have  the  greatest 
interest. 

I  need  hardly  remind  my  readers  that  Sir  John 
Franklin  in  1845  left  England  in  the  Erebus  and 
Terror  to  discover,  and  if  possible  pass  through,  a 
north-west  passage.  In  1846  his  ships  were  per- 
manently beset  by  ice  about  20  miles  N.N.W.  of 
King  William's  Land,  and  all  their  crews  perished 
in  endeavouring  to  escape  by  Back's  fish  river. 

I  know  no  more  pathetic  document  than  the 
*  record  '  found  by  Lieutenant  Hobson  in  1859 
at  Point  Victory  in  King  William's  Land,  when 
all  that  it  conveys  is  well  considered.  Few  words 
seldom  indicated  more. 

A  quaint  old  whaling  captain,  by  name  Martin, 
who  was  up  in  a  whaler  when  I  was,  had  in  1845 
commanded  a  ship  called  the  Enterprise,  and  our 
mate,  by  name  Aitkin,  was  then  a  boy  on  board 
her.  She  met  Sir  John  Franklin's  ships  in 
Melville  Bay,  and  all  three  vessels  made  fast  to 
the  same  iceberg  to  get  fresh  water  from  it. 

Several  of  Sir  John's  officers  came  on  board 
the  Enterprise  to  ask  Captain  Martin  to  dine 
with  Sir  John  that  day  and  to  take  their  mail 
for   England.     Martin    asked   the   officers   down 

137 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

into  his  cabin,  and,  leaving  his  mate  there  to 
entertain  them,  retreated  to  the  crow's  nest  in 
order  to  avoid  society.  And  two  hours  before 
the  dinner  time  he  suddenly  cast  off  from  the 
berg,  made  sail,  and  stood  away  without  giving 
the  members  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  expedition 
their — as  it  proved — last  chance,  of  sending 
letters  home. 

In  April  we  had  one  really  bad  night ;  a  gale 
of  wind  from  the  south-east  caught  us  just  to 
windward  of  the  pack.  In  such  a  case  there  are 
two  options:  one  to  burrow  well  into  the  pack  if 
you  can,  and  get  shelter  from  it,  but  you  must  go 
a  good  way  in  ;  the  other  to  get  away  from  the 
ice  altogether. 

The  first  we  could  not  do,  so  had  to  try  the 
second,  which  resulted  in  many  colhsions  with 
bits  of  ice,  the  loss  of  a  boat,  our  figure-head,  cut 
water  and  head  knee,  and  very  nearly  of  the  bow- 
sprit. Nothing  but  a  specially  fortihed  ship 
could  have  stood  the  ice  blows  that  our  poor 
vessel  got  through  that  night. 

A  propos  of  Caledonian  Sabbatarianism  I  see 
in  my  journal  that  on  Easter  Day  the  crew 
worked  specially  hard  from  5  a.m.  to  10  p.m. 

Indeed  we  may  be  said  to  have  acted  like  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa  palm-oil  trader,  who  when 
he  got  abreast  of  Cape  Palmas,  outward  bound, 
called  the  crew  aft,  produced  a  piece  of  board, 
wrote  'Sunday'  on  it,  then  threw  it  overboard, 
and  said  to  his  men :  '  No  more  Sundays,  boys, 
till  we  pass  here  going  North.' 

Of  course  we  never  anchored,  being  in  very 

138 


WHEN   WHALING  CAPTAINS   MEET 

deep  wa;er,  but  when  we  found  ourselves  fast  to 
ice  near  another  ship  we  sometimes  exchanged 
hospitaUty,  which  generally  meant  a  long  evening 
of  drinking,  smoking,  and  yarning. 

I  remember  speciaUy  one  such  symposium  in 
our  ship — three  or  four  whaling  captains  came  ; 
one  was  an  elderly  man,  much  given  to  drink, 
and  if  the  adage  m  vino  Veritas  is  true,  not  a 
pleasant  master  for  his  men.  In  a  few  hours  he 
got  tipsy,  abusive  and  quarrelsome,  threw  the 
inkstand  at  me,  and  tried  to  follow  it  up  with  the 
coal-scuttle. 

Finally  his  spectioneer,  who  knew  how  to 
manage  him,  was  sent  for,  and  having  been  got 
back  to  his  ship,  he  ascended  to  the  crow's  nest, 
a  first-rate  place  in  which  to  cool  his  head. 

On  this  occasion  I  was  much  struck  with  the 
calm  conduct  of  our  captain  (John  Gray).  It 
is  a  very  awkward  position  for  one  of  your  guests 
to  get  riotously  drunk  at  your  table,  and  in  these 
days  happily  it  rarely  occurs. 

But  if  it  does,  or  did,  you  have  to  remember 
the  duties  of  hospitahty,  and  that  the  inebriated 
one  is  your  guest.  This  our  host  did,  and  behaved 
in  a  way  worthy  of  anyone  in  rank  from  a  prmce 
downwards. 

Very  few  whales  were  got  in  '  Greenland  ' 
that  season ;  we  saw  some,  and  went  away  in  the 
boats  after  them,  but  had  not  the  luck  to  get 
fast  to  one  at  all.  We  neared  in  turn  both 
Greenland  and  Spitsbergen  and  went  up  to  about 
80°  North. 

I   should  like   to   tell   various  stories   that   I 

139 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

heard,  but  I  will  retrain.  By  the  way,  why  is 
the  word  '  story  '  of  such  ambiguous  meaning, 
and  doubtfully  veracious  reputation  ? 

Finally  we  returned  to  our  port,  Peterhead, 
and  I  took  leave  of  as  fine  a  set  of  honest,  hardy 
seamen  as  one  would  find.  Our  voyage,  owing 
to  the  large  quantity  of  seals  that  we  had  got, 
paid  the  owners  very  well. 


140 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    COASTGUARD 
Queenstown — Coastguard  Cutters — Plymouth . 

One  morning  to  my  surprise  I  got  an  official 
letter  from  the  Admiralty  appointing  me  addi- 
tional to  H.M.S.  Frederick  William  at  Foynes 
in  Ireland,  for  service  in  H.M.  Coastguard. 

As  the  Fenians  were  then  in  full  swing  and  I 
was  a  loyal  subject — now  called  a  'Unionist  ' — 
I  hoped  and  thought  it  was  to  try  and  exterminate 
James  Stephens  and  his  followers.  However,  I 
found  it  was  not  so  high  an  office,  but  simply  an 
ordinary  berth  as  inspecting  commander  of  the 
Queenstown  Division  of  Coastguard. 

Nowadays  lieutenants  and  commanders  going 
into  the  Coastguard  are  expected  only  to  retire 
from  such  appointments  which  end  their  careers, 
but  then  it  was  different,  and  many  young  com- 
manders were  put  into  it,  till  they  could  get  to 
sea. 

I  proceeded  to  Queenstown  and  took  a  cottage 
on  the  other  side  of  the  harbour  at  a  place  called 
Aghada  near  Rostellan  Castle.  A  large  Atlantic 
steamer  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  in  my  division 

141 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

just  as  I  went  there,  and  my  wits  were  much 
exercised  to  arrange  the  business,  get  through 
the  voluminous  correspondence,  and  compound 
with  the  hungry  natives.  But  the  saying  that 
*  the  mountains  of  the  future  become  the  mole- 
hills of  the  past  '  is  often  true. 

The  duties  of  an  inspecting  commander  are, 
or  were,  not  too  onerous.  If  he  does  his  duty 
they  are  sufficient  to  interest  him,  and  fill  up 
enough  of  his  time  to  make  him  the  more  enjoy 
the  remainder  of  it. 

In  those  days  many  of  the  officers  of  stations, 
and  many  of  the  men,  were  civilians  who  had 
never  been  in  the  Navy,  and  some  even  had  not 
been  to  sea.  The  divisional  officers  were  generally 
commanders  or  lieutenants,  but  there  were  some 
civilians.  The  station  officers  were  a  very  mixed 
lot,  some  lieutenants,  or  masters  Royal  Navy,  some 
civilians,  who  were  gentlemen,  and  some  warrant 
officers  of  the  Navy.  Station  appointments  then 
lasted  till  the  officer  was  superannuated. 

The  duties,  or  work,  differed  very  much  "at 
different  stations.  In  some  it  was  all  patrolling 
the  coast  by  day  and  night  ;  in  others  boarding 
duty  by  boat  was  included,  and  was  in  fact  the 
chief  work. 

The  houses  varied  immensely;  the  divisional 
officer  practically  always  had  to  find  his  own 
house,  but  all  others  had  service  accommodation. 
When  the  houses  had  been  built  for  the  Coastguard 
they  were  always  good,  but  of  the  rest,  hired 
as  they  could  be  got,  some  were  almost  dis- 
graceful.    This  has  now  been  long  ago  remedied 

142 


COASTGUARD  SERVICE 

and  the  Admiralty  Coastguard  houses  are  a  credit 
to  the  service. 

The  Coastguard  afloat  consisted  chiefly  of 
cutters  of  about  80  tons,  and  very  good  sea  boats, 
I  had  one,  the  Scout,  attached  to  my  division. 
Her  commander  was  of  chief  warrant  officer's 
rank. 

He  had  on  one  occasion  taken  his  wife  to  sea ; 
they  fell  into  a  heavy  gale  of  wind,  and  were 
battened  down  for  thirty-six  hours.  His  wife 
was  more  than  half  dead  with  sea-sickness  and 
fear ;  however,  she  survived  it,  but  in  his  account 
of  the  affair  he  added,  as  a  curious  fact,  that  she 
had  never  forgotten  it. 

Talking  of  sea-sickness,  it  has  often  occurred 
that  young  seamen,  drafted  to  serve  for  a  time  in 
the  Coastguard  cutters,  have  been  so  sea-sick  that 
they  have  begged  to  be  sent  back  to  the  regular 
man-of-war.  Of  course  most  people  know  that 
the  quicker  the  motion  of  a  vessel  the  more  apt 
people  are  to  be  ill,  also  that  pitching  is  worse 
than  rolling,  as  regards  the  above  malady  ;  be- 
cause owing  to  the  greater  metacentric  height  for 
fore  and  aft  stability,  the  motion  of  pitching  is 
more  violent  and  jerky  than  that  of  rolling. 

Private  life  where  I  lived  was  very  agreeable  : 
everyone  knows  the  hospitality  of  the  Irish.  In 
summer  we  played  cricket  and  other  games,  and 
in  winter  hunted  to  a  moderate  degree,  and  shot. 

The  forts  about  Queenstown  Harbour  were  at 
that  time  garrisoned  by  the  Ro^^al  Marines  in 
the  winter :  because  as  that  corps  are  only 
recruited  in  England,  and  are  supposed  to  have  no 

143 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

Irishmen  in  them,  their  loyalty,  as  regards  any 
tinge  of  Fenianism,  could  be  better  trusted  than 
that  of  a  regiment  of  the  line. 

My  object  and  wish  in  the  Navy  has  always 
been  to  serve  actually  at  sea,  in  preference  to 
anything  else,  and  indeed  I  cannot  understand 
anyone  who  voluntarily  becomes  a  sailor  doing 
otherwise. 

I  must  allow  I  enjoyed  my  time  in  Ireland, 
but  when  I  had  been  there  rather  over  a  year 
I  was  moved  to  the  Plymouth  Division  of  Coast- 
guard, the  reason  being  curious,  as  follows. 

At  that  time  the  leading  feature  in  our  Govern- 
ment's service  was  rigid  economy,  in  which  the 
Admiralty  set  an  example — noble  or  otherwise. 
An  officer  I  knew  intimately,  who  was  very  well  off 
and  anxious  to  get  command  of  a  ship  as  soon  as 
he  could,  he  being  a  commander,  was  appointed 
to  a  ship  on  a  distant  station  before  his  turn, 
because  he  offered  to  pay  all  his  passage  money 
out  there  by  mail  steamer. 

My  case  was  a  minor  one  ;  it  was  desired  to 
reduce  some  of  the  Irish  Divisions  of  Coastguard 
from  commander  to  lieutenants  for  economy, 
and  the  offer  of  the  Plymouth  Division  was  made 
to  two  officers  in  Ireland  whose  divisions  they 
wished  to  reduce.  Both  refused  to  go  unless 
ordered,  but  if  ordered  the  Admiralty  would  have 
to  bear  certain  expenses.  They  then  thought  of 
me,  though  mine  was  not  wished  to  be  a  reduced 
division,  and  the  matter  was  so  put  to  my  friends 
that  I  said  I  would  go  voluntarily,  and  went. 

The  pay  of  commanders  in  the  Coastguard  I 
144 


COASTGUARD   OFFICERS'   EMOLUMENTS 

considered  quite  enough  :  besides  the  pay  ot  this 
rank,  they  had  lodging  allowance ;  what  was 
called  *  moving  duty '  allowance ;  and  an  allow- 
ance to  keep  two  horses,  concerning  which  they 
were  only  obliged  to  keep  actually  one.  The 
idea  of  this,  of  course,  was  that  at  any  moment 
they  could  have  the  horse  saddled  and  rush  off 
to  any  part  of  their  coast  in  case  of  emergency. 

The  horses  were,  of  course,  very  convenient 
for  hunting  also  !  In  the  Plymouth  Division  I 
lived  in  Durnford  Street,  nearly  opposite  the 
Royal  Marine  Barracks  ;  I  had  also  a  15-ton 
cutter  provided  by  the  service  as  my  yacht ;  and 
what  may  seem  more  strange  still,  a  mounted 
orderly  provided  by  the  service  to  escort  me  as  I 
pleased.  My  man  had  been  a  trooper  in  a  Dragoon 
regiment.  It  was,  of  course,  a  relic  of  the  days 
when  fights  with  smugglers  occurred,  and  the 
officer  had  some  one  to  help  protect  him. 

I  was  not  long  at  Plymouth,  when  I  was 
appointed  to  commission  the  Growler  at  that  port 
for  the  West  Coast  of  Africa. 


145 


CHAPTER  XIII 


H.M.S.  GROWLER 


'  Bugtrap  ' — Sierra  Leone — Kroomen — A  Wreck — Bight  of  Benin 
— Dogs — Fernando  Po — African  Kings — Rivers — Slavers — 
Fight  with  Congo  Pirates — Ascension  Island. 

The  Growler  was  a  new  ship,  one  of  a  strange 
class,  inasmuch  as  they  were  built  to  use  up  a 
large  stock  of  gunboat  engines.  To  do  this 
two  sizes  of  ships  were  designed,  all  to  have  twin 
screws,  the  first  so  fitted  in  the  Navy,  I  believe. 

The  larger  class  had  two  sets  of  80  horse-power 
engines,  the  smaller  class  two  of  60  horse-power. 
My  ship  was  one  of  the  smaller,  the  sort  of  vessel 
dignified  by  the  name  of  a  '  bugtrap.'  However, 
I  was  very  glad  to  get  her  and  go  to  sea,  even  to 
the  hated  West  Coast  of  Africa,  whose  dry  and 
thirst-promoting  climate  has  proved  a  snare  to 
too  many  sailors,  and  justified  Virgil's  'At  nos 
hinc  alii  sitientes  ibimus  Afros.' 

The  Growler  was  barque  rigged;  her  good 
points  were  that  she  was  extreme!}'  handy  under 
steam,  not  a  bad  sea  boat,  and  good  for  rivers, 
drawing  only  nine  feet  of  water.  But  though 
you  could  tack  and  wear  her,  as  I  often  did, 
Neptune  himself  could  not  have  made  her  work 
decently  to  windward,  under  sail  only. 

146 


KROOMEN 

We  fitted  out  at  Devonport  and  left  in  the 
month  of  July  for  our  station.  We  called  at 
Sierra  Leone  to  embark  our  Kroomen.  I  should 
explain  that  these  are  negroes  from  the  Kroo 
country,  who  enter  on  board  our  ships  on  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa,  only  for  service  in  them  on 
that  station.  In  the  Growler  we  had  about  ten, 
of  fine  physique,  impervious  to  the  rays  of  the 
sun,  or  the  bite  of  the  lady  mosquito,  who,  however, 
had  not  then  been  diagnosed  as  the  conveyer  of 
fever.     They  slept  and  lived  on  the  upper  deck. 

I  may  here  remark  that  in  the  Growler,  as  was 
often  the  case  in  small  craft,  we  had  no  mess 
tables  for  the  men,  which  gave  more  room  on 
the  small  lower  decks. 

While  at  Sierra  Leone  a  man  came  on  board 
to  say  his  ship  had  gone  ashore  some  twenty  miles 
south  of  the  port  and  would  he  feared  become  a 
total  wreck,  but  would  I  see  if  I  could  salve  her  ? 

My  orders  did  not  admit  of  much  delay,  and 
after  hearing  his  description  I  quite  discouraged 
all  hopes.  However,  I  sailed  one  evening  and 
thought  I  would  have  a  look  at  her.  By  the 
light  of  a  fine  moon  we  found  her,  but  saw  she 
was  a  hopeless  wreck,  and  only  likely  to  be  pillaged 
entirely  by  the  natives. 

When  one  is  young  one  acts  a  good  deal  on 
impulse,  and  I  allowed  my  First-lieutenant  and 
warrant  officer  to  '  salve  '  some  very  useful 
spars,  canvas  and  other  things.  You  should 
never  neglect  the  gifts  that  Providence  places 
before  you,  but  *  take  the  goods  the  gods  provide 
thee,'  unless,  of  course,  actually  prevented  W  your 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

conscience,  or  the  policeman,  but  neither  in  this 
case  interfered. 

A  man-of-war,  at  the  time  I  speak  of,  had 
perhaps  all  that  was  necessary  to  carry  out  her 
intended  service,  but  the  official  establishment 
often  left  a  good  deal  to  be  desired,  and  every 
sailor  loves  to  see  his  ship  look  well. 

I  had  painted  the  Growler  yellow  with  a  red 
streak,  boats  to  match ;  in  those  days  all  common 
men-of-war  were  black,  never  white  or  grey. 
I  now  gave  her  a  long  mizzen  topmast,  and  jib 
and  flying  jibboom,  and  immensely  improved  her 
appearance. 

I  must  say  I  felt  a  little  anxious  lest  our 
salvage  operations  should  be  misconstrued  by 
some  narrow-minded  people  ;  but  it  was  not  so. 

We  now  began  our  coast  service  mostly  in 
the  Bight  of  Benin,  where  '  Tom  Cringle  '  says 
that  '  one  comes  out  where  a  dozen  go  in '  ;  but 
this  happily  is  far  too  pessimistic  a  statement. 

'  The  Coast,'  as  par  excellence  it  used  to 
be  called,  was  of  course  hot,  but  its  worst  fault 
almost  was  its  dreariness,  and  that  bred  many 
rows  and  serious  troubles.  I  entered  the  rivers 
whenever  I  could,  and  my  ship's  shallow  draft 
permitted  it.  Besides  the  service  reasons  for 
doing  so,  it  was  very  interesting,  and  I  thought 
it  better  to  get  the  African  fever  than  to  die 
of  monotony  off  the  coast.  It  is  no  use  disguising 
the  fact  that  intemperance  has  been  the  bane  of 
West  Africa  Coast  service  in  the  Navy,  and 
many  officers,  who  elsewhere  might  have  done 
well,  have  been  ruined  b}'  drink;  the  craving  for 

148 


BIGHT  OF   BENIN 

it  is  much  induced  by  the  monotony  and  tedious- 
ness  of  the  life,  lying,  or  quietly  cruising,  off  that 
coast. 

My  ship  carried  very  few  officers,  of  whom 
only  two  executive  ones  were  reliable.  One  was 
my  First-lieutenant,  whom  I  lost  in  a  curious  way. 
We  were  at  great-gun  target  practice,  and  as  it 
went  on  I  noticed  that  he  seemed  to  have  more 
difficulty  in  hearing  my  orders  to  him. 

An  hour  or  two  after  the  firing  was  over,  the 
Surgeon  reported  that  the  First-lieutenant  was 
perfectly  deaf.  He  remained  so  for  several  weeks, 
stone  deaf,  and  had  to  be  invalided  home. 

Running  into  the  Channel  in  the  winter  the 
captain  of  the  mail  steamer  had  occasion  to  fire 
a  pistol.  This  the  deaf  patient  heard,  and  his 
hearing  came  back  b}/  degrees  ;  but  he  was  ad- 
vised to  retire  lest  the  same  thing  should  recur, 
and  he  did  so. 

I  had  a  retriever  on  board  who  presented  us 
with  puppies — one  was  named  after  the  ship,  and 
should  have  been  a  cat,  so  charmed  did  his  life 
appear.  Lying  in  the  Brass  River  one  night,  with 
the  stream  running  four  knots,  '  Growler '  fell  over- 
board ;  it  was  quite  dark  and  nothing  could  be 
done.  We  gave  him  up,  but  next  day  I  heard 
much  excitement  going  on,  and  they  reported 
that  '  Growler'  had  come  on  board.  What  almost 
must  have  happened  was  that  the  dog  had  been 
carried  down  towards  the  sea,  but  swimming  in 
one  direction  had  landed  on  the  last  point  inside 
the  bar,  crawled  to  a  native  village,  been  taken 
in,  and  brought  up  to  the  settlement.     I  could 

149 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

relate  at  least  two  other  of  his  wonderful  escapes, 
but  will  forbear. 

I  was  often  at  Fernando  Po  in  the  Bight 
of  Biafra;  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
luxuriant  islands  in  the  world.  On  account  of 
the  first  it  was  at  one  time  called  by  the  Spaniards 
*  Formosa.'  As  to  the  latter  nearly  any  tropical 
thing  will  grow  there.  I  have  carefully  measured 
cotton  trees  quite  200  feet  high.  The  native 
inhabitants  are  called  *  Boobies,'  and  are  I  think 
about  the  lowest  race  I  personally  know.  The 
females  used  often  to  be  without  any  clothing, 
a  thing  most  rare  with  any  savages. 

The  peak  is  10,093  feet  high ;  it  rose  so  steeply 
from  the  sea  near  the  anchorage  that  it  is  almost 
like  looking  at  Nelson's  column  from  the  Union 
Club.  The  island  is  very  unhealthy  for  Euro- 
peans; the  Spanish,  nine  years  before  my  visit, 
sent  out  a  volunteer  colony,  to  have  free  grants 
of  land,  but  soon  the  survivors  begged  to  be 
taken  back,  to  starve  in  Spain  for  preference. 

The  British  Consul  when  I  was  there  was 
Charles  Livingstone,  brother  of  the  great  doctor, 
with  whom  he  had  often  been  in  Africa  and  of 
whom  he  talked  much.  He  said  that  when  his 
brother  was  seized  by  a  lion,  though  really  much 
hurt,  an  extraordinary  fascination  of  the  beast 
seemed  to  possess  him,  and  to  deaden  the  pain. 

Consul  Livingstone  made  several  official  trips 
in  my  ship,  living  of  course  with  me,  and  we  had 
interesting  visits  to  rivers,  and  '  palavers,'  so 
called,  with  the  native  kings.  The  Consul  had 
the  African   fever  engrained  in  his  constitution, 

150 


AFRICAN  'KINGS' 

and  when  with  me  was  often  down  with  it,  and 
thoroughly  sick  and  wretched  in  my  tiny  cabin. 
Africa's  toll  of  the  white  man  is  heavy  ! 

The  African  '  Kings  '  are  often  amusing.  I 
remember  one,  '  King  Dido '  by  name,  who  after 
freely  partaking  of  refreshment  in  my  cabin, 
could  hardly  be  got  to  leave  till  he  understood 
that  I  would  write  to  Queen  Victoria — who  he 
thought  used  to  drink  rum  and  water  in  my  cabin 
too — to  send  him  out  a  breech-loading  rifle  just 
like  mine. 

When  the  Consul  remonstrated  with  the  King 
of  Brass,  which  is  just  to  the  eastward  of  the 
Niger,  on  his  people  pillaging  a  British  merchant 
vessel  which  had  run  ashore  there,  instead  of 
helping  her  to  get  off,  and  told  him  that  in  Eng- 
land, on  the  contrary,  we  were  always  most  kind 
to  shipwrecked  people  and  tried  to  save  stranded 
ships,  and  when  this  had  been  conveyed  to  H.M. 
by  the  interpreter,  the  King  after  a  little  time 
replied :  '  That  be  good  law  for  you,  but  mine 
be  best  law  for  me  here,'  and  no  doubt  from  his 
point  of  view  it  was  so. 

The  title  King  may  serve  to  designate  these 
noble  potentates  as  well  as  any  other,  but  it  is 
usually  ridiculous  when  the  monarch  himself 
appears.  Often  previous  to  a  visit  to  you  by 
the  King,  he  sends  in  advance  a  messenger  with 
his  stick  of  state,  a  highly  carved  staff,  which  is, 
of  course,  taken  away  after  the  visit.  I  have 
received  on  board  a  '  King  '  dressed  only  in  the 
full-dress  tailcoat  of  a  naval  officer,  a  red  hand- 
kerchief round  his  middle,  a  tall  black  hat  on  his 

151 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

head  and  nothing  else — all  these  worn  with  an 
air  of  perfect  gravity.  A  few  of  these  kings  send 
their  sons  to  England  for  education,  but  the 
return  to  their  native  surroundings  can  hardly 
be  satisfactory. 

The  traders  up  the  rivers  often  live  afloat 
m  hulks,  or  if  on  shore  their  goods  are  often  kept 
in  hulks  for  safet3^  A  fire-ship  can  hardly  be 
more  inflammable  than  these  vessels  are. 

Imagine  an  old  wooden  ship  well  baked  by 
the  tropical  sun,  her  cargo,  rum,  palm-oil,  and 
gunpowder,  and  when  she  catches  fire,  as  occurs 
at  times,  the  only  thing  to  do  is  to  desert  her. 

I  entered  all  the  rivers  I  could  find  excuse  to, 
and  was  surprised  to  find  how  ill  surveyed  some 
of  them  were.  The  Old  Calabar  was  the  worst 
I  found.  Having  the  Admiralty  chart,  I  did  not 
take  a  pilot — it  is  about  ninety  miles  from  the  bar 
up  to  the  settlement.  When  we  had  got  about 
thirty  miles  the  chart  became  quite  useless. 

I  afterwards  made  a  running  survey  of  the 
river.  The  chart  was  as  if  one  man  had  begun 
at  the  settlement,  and  another  at  the  bar,  each 
had  worked  about  thirty  miles  on  different  scales, 
and  an  inventive  genius  had  then  inserted  the 
middle  part  from  his  inner  consciousness.  The 
result  may  be  imagined  ! 

At  Old  Calabar  meat  was  sold  with  some  of 
the  animals'  hair  on  to  show  it  had  had  four  legs, 
and  not  only  two  ! 

The  Bonny  River,  when  I  was  on  the  coast, 
was  the  scene  of  much  disturbance.  Two  kings, 
named   respectively   J  a- J  a   and   George   Peppel, 

152 


DISTURBANCES   ON  THE   BONNY   RIVER 

quarrelled ;  the  latter  was  helped  by  a  powerful 
trader,  called  Oko  Jumbo,  and  a  fight  was  arranged. 
They  collected  cannon  of  various  calibre  and  date, 
and  placed  them  in  positions  some  quarter  of  a 
mile  apart,  with  houses  dotted  here  and  there 
between,  and  opened  fire ;  how  many  were  killed  I 
do  not  know,  but  on  arrival  soon  after  the  action 
I  found  Peppel  and  Oko  Jumbo  triumphant, 
and  Ja-Ja  defeated  and  fled. 

Subsequently,  after  I  had  left  the  station, 
Ja-Ja  was  made  prisoner  by  us  and  deported  to 
the  West  Indies.  The  sequel  I  happen  to  know. 
Being  at  Grenada  some  years  after  I  saw  the 
captive,  who  soon  after  that  was  released  by  our 
Government,  and  put  on  board  a  corvette  for 
passage  back  to  his  country.  The  vessel,  however, 
went  no  farther  than  Teneriffe,  and  landed  him 
there. 

Our  Consul  at  Santa  Cruz — Captain  Harford — 
one  of  the  kindest  of  men,  did  all  he  could  to 
console  Ja-Ja,  and  assure  him  he  would  be  sent 
on  to  Bonny.  But  in  vain,  the  ex-King  gave 
himself  up  to  despair,  '  turned  his  face  to  the 
wall '  and  died.  I  think  our  Government  felt 
all  had  not  been  as  it  should,  and  they  ordered 
that  the  body  should  be  taken  up,  embalmed 
and  sent  to  Bonny.  It  was  not  a  pleasant  job, 
but  some  Spanish  doctors  were  got  to  do  it, 
and  sent  in  a  very  long  bill  which  our  Treasury  at 
first  demurred  to  paying ;  the  doctors  pointed  out 
the  grand  points  in  the  matter,  one  that  it  was 
the  body  of  a  monarch,  and  the  other  that  the 
party    to    pay    was     the     British     nation,    who 

153 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

eventually  cashed  up.  All  this  the  Consul  at 
Santa  Cruz  told  me. 

Sometimes  we  went  up  the  rivers  to  shoot 
crocodiles;  the  niggers  always  called  them  alli- 
gators, but  the  latter  I  believe  only  exist  in  the 
Americas. 

A  crocodile  asleep  on  the  bank  looks  just  like 
a  tree  covered  with  mud.  So  much  so  that  the 
first  I  saw  deceived  both  me  and  my  companion, 
though  warned  beforehand,  till  the  niggers  saw 
it  and  cried  out  '  Hi  ha,  alligator.'  They  are  very 
hard  to  kill,  unless  hit  in  the  eye,  or  one  or  two 
other  places. 

I  have  no  doubt  cannibalism  still  goes  on  near 
the  West  African  Coast  in  places;  it  certainly 
did  when  I  was  there.  I  was  told  by  an  English 
trader,  that  up  the  New  Calabar  River  he  came 
on  some  natives  just  after  a  fight  cooking  some  of 
their  vanquished  foes  for  dinner. 

As  regards  slave  ships,  they  were  all  but  over 
when  I  was  there,  but  the  middle  passage  was 
still  a  possibility.  Of  course  we  all  had  '  slave 
papers,'  i.e.  authority  to  act ;  without  which 
interference  was  illegal. 

At  that  time  the  French  only  half  agreed  to 
give  us  powers  over  their  ships ;  you  might  board 
them,  and  ask  to  see  their  papers,  but  if  the 
'  Conge '  and  '  Acte  de  Francisation '  were  produced, 
and  seemed  bond  fide,  you  had  no  authority  to  do 
any  more,  whatever  your  ground  for  suspicion. 

On  one  occasion,  '  from  information  received,' 
as  the  police  say,  which  seemed  trustworthy,  that 
a  certain  French  ship  was  about  to  take  in  slaves 

154 


IN  PURSUIT  OF   PIRATES 

at  a  place  named,  I  went  there  and  found  the 
vessel,  boarded  her,  and  saw  her  papers,  which 
seemed  right.  However,  I  told  them  my  sus- 
picions, and  said  I  should  watch  her,  unless  they 
let  me  search  the  ship,  which  they  did,  and  I  let 
her  go. 

A  vessel  about  to  take  slaves  would  have  her 
decks,  water  tanks,  or  casks,  and  probably  slave- 
irons,  in  readiness. 

Everyone  knows  how  badly  off  Africa  is  for 
harbours.  I  visited  St.  Paul  de  Loando,  which  is 
about  the  best  on  that  coast.  In  its  neighbour- 
hood were  the  best  specimens  I  had  ever  seen  of  the 
Baobab  tree,  or  Anansonia  digitata,  so  named 
from  its  shape — a  gigantic  carrot,  but  protruding 
more  from  the  ground  in  proportion,  with  im- 
mense spreading  boughs  may  be  taken  as  a  rough 
resemblance. 

Consul  Livingstone  told  me  he  had  seen  some 
that  could  shelter  a  whole  regiment.  In  the 
Canary  Islands  I  have  seen  trees  much  like  them ; 
they  are  often  of  very  great  age,  but  have  no 
actual  beauty.  The  Consul  used  to  praise  very 
much  the  inner  and  higher  parts  of  Africa  where 
he  had  been  with  his  brother. 

We  went  to  Lobito  or  Benguela  in  12°  30' 
S.,  where  you  can  pick  oysters  off  the  mangrove 
trees !— off  the  roots  of  course. 

Soon  after  I  proceeded  to  the  River  Congo, 
where  numbers  of  pirates  were  about,  and  it  was 
much  desired,  if  possible,  to  recapture  a  negro 
chief  called  Manoel  Vacca,  who  had  been  our 
prisoner  formerly,  but  was  now  released. 

155 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

To  catch  him  was  not  easy ;  the  Portuguese  are 
great  traders  there  and  own  slaves.  One  Portu- 
guese merchant  said  to  me,  '  I  think  I  know- 
how  you  could  catch  Manoel  Vacca.  Ask  him  to 
come  and  see  you,  and  promise  you  will  let  him 
go  free.  I  think  he  will  beheve  it  and  come, 
and  then  of  course  you  can  keep  him.'  It  shows 
a  very  curious  morality  and  sense  of  honour. 
Perverted  diplomacy  shall  we  call  it  ? 

My  time  on  the  coast  was  shortened  by  the 
following  affair.  Arrived  at  the  River  Congo  I 
heard  that  an  English  merchant  vessel  in  that 
river  had  just  been  seized  by  Congo  pirates. 

On  my  anchoring  off  Banana  creek  one  morning 
five  men  of  the  schooner  Loango  came  on  board  to 
say  that  she  had  been  boarded  by  pirates  the  day 
before  higher  up  the  river.  It  appeared  that  they 
had  escaped,  leaving  the  captain  and  a  boy  on 
board.  At  once  I  was  off  and  in  a  couple  of  hours 
sighted  the  schooner,  manned  and  armed  boats 
and  boarded  her ;  the  pirates  who  could  escaped 
up  the  creeks  near,  but  I  got  one  and  kept  him  as 
a  guide.  The  vessel  had  a  regular  West  African 
cargo,  viz.  rum,  gunpowder,  and  sundries.  It 
was  extraordinary  how  much  they  had  cleared  her 
out  in  twenty  hours. 

The  job  now  was  to  find  the  captain  and  boy, 
if  alive.  From  my  prisoner,  with  threats  and  an 
interpreter,  I  got  some  hints  where  to  go,  to 
surprise  in  his  lair  King  Mpinge  Nebacca  (pro- 
nounced by  Jack  'pinch  of  tobacco  '),  who  was 
the  chief  pirate  known  there  then. 

From   Senor  Oleviera,  a  Portuguese  merchant 

156 


MPINGE   NEBACCA'S   VILLAGE 

slave  dealer  and  owner,  I  borrowed  a  slave  as 
guide.  Next  morning  we  were  off  before  daylight 
in  three  boats,  and  landed  in  a  mangrove  swamp 
at  low-water  ;  here  owing  to  difhculty  of  language 
mistakes  were  made,  but  finally  we  got  to  shore. 
If  anyone  wants  to  know  what  it  is  like  to  be 
really  muddy,  induce  them  to  land  in  a  mangrove 
swamp  at  low-water.  I  find  this  description  of  it 
in  a  letter  of  mine :  '  You  writhe  like  a  snake 
among  the  roots,  then  clunb  over  them  like  a 
monkey,  or  again  wade  deeply  through  the  mud 
like  a  man  shrimping.' 

Speed  was  now  necessary  to  try  and  surprise 
the  natives ;  we  ran  as  hard  as  we  could  along  the 
narrow  paths,  and  through  pools  of  water  often 
three  feet  deep,  about  three  miles,  arriving  at 
last  at  the  village  of  Mpinge  Nebacca.  The 
niggers  did  not  stay  to  fight,  but  fled  into  the  bush 
and  opened  a  very  desultory  fire  from  there  with 
small- arms.  This  town  was  so  hidden  in  the 
forest  that  without  a  guide  I  should  never  have 
found  it,  and  probably  no  white  man  was  ever 
there  before.  Like  rabbits  the  inhabitants  jumped 
up  and  fled ;  had  they  only  stockaded  and  defended 
the  path  we  came  by,  we  should  have  had  much 
trouble. 

I  wanted,  of  course,  prisoners  for  information, 
so  I  ran  on  tiU  I  got  hold  of  a  young  negro  about 
nineteen  years  old,  secured  him,  and  handed  him 
over  to  one  of  my  men  who  then  came  up,  and  I 
went  on  into  the  bush  after  the  others. 

The  chase  was  anmsmg ;  it  was  through  grass 
and  reeds  some  eight  feet  high  in  places.     Their 

157 


MY   NAVAT,   CAREER 

advantage  was  custom  and  want  of  clothing, 
mine  a  path  partly  cleared  by  them.  I  had  my 
sword  in  my  hand,  and  could  at  times  have  run 
one  of  them  through;  but  to  kill  was  not  my 
object,  and  besides,  you  cannot  kill  a  person  from 
behind— at  least  not  usually. 

At  last  one  of  the  fugitives  fell  down,  so  near 
me  that  I  was  able  to  fling  myself  on  top  of  him. 
We  rolled  over  in  the  grass,  my  captive's  only 
garment  came  off,  and  I  found  in  my  arms  a 
young  woman  ! 

I  was  of  course  all  the  more  glad  I  had  not 
at  all  hurt  my  '  chase,'  but  a  woman  can  talk  as 
well  as  a  man.  Some  say  better,  or  faster.  So  I 
gave  her  in  charge  to  my  coxswain,  and  took  her 
on  board.  Meanwhile  one  of  my  officers  found 
the  captain  of  the  schooner  alive  but  badly 
wounded,  and  too  stupefied  to  be  any  use.  The 
town  was  full  of  plunder  from  the  Loango,  so  their 
guilt  was  clear ;  they  had  several  hundred  kegs  of 
gunpowder,  which  I  blew  up,  and  many  other 
things.  The  town  was  burnt,  and  with  difficulty  we 
carried  off  the  captain,  and  took  my  two  prisoners. 

How  many  men  were  killed  I  cannot  say  ;  but 
it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  British  sailor  or 
marine,  and  I  beheve  soldier,  is  not  very  squeamish 
about  taking  life  when  once  he  is  thoroughly 
excited. 

The  day  was  one  of  temptation  to  the  thirsty 

*  Tar  '  or  '  Jolly,'  as  it  was  very  hot  and  much 
trade  rum  was  about  in  the  village.  As  we  were 
returning  I  heard  a  marine  artillery  gunner  say, 

*  I've  killed  two  and  murdered  two  more,'   and 


WOUNDED   IN  THE  LEG 

had  I  not  been  commanding  officer  I  should  have 
Hked  to  ask  where  he  drew  the  hne. 

I  have  often  been  amused  by  people  saying, 
or  pretending,  that  the  gentle  Britisher  is  far  more 
humane  than  the  other  European  warriors.  In 
my  opinion  and  experience,  under  similar  circum- 
stances, there  is  not  very  much  to  choose  between 
them.  This  I  know  is  heresy  !  But  they  are 
the  '  proper  fighting  beast,'  as  Barry  Lyndon 
says — when  excited. 

Our  day's  work  was  not  over,  and  we  went  in 
the  boats  to  another  very  narrow  creek,  which  with 
difficulty  we  got  up,  landed,  and  found  another 
village  and  more  gunpowder.  But  the  natives 
were  prepared,  and  having  retreated  to  the  bush, 
kept  up  a  loose  sort  of  fire,  and  no  prisoners  could 
be  got. 

My  slave  amused  me — he  would  not  land  here, 
but  lay  down  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat  to  avoid 
the  shot,  so  Exeter  Hall  may  rejoice  to  think  that 
even  a  slave  feels  his  life  well  worth  preserving. 

Having  destroyed  this  village  we  returned  to 
the  boats,  as  no  more  could  then  be  done.  As  we 
descended  the  creek  I  was  shot  through  the  leg, 
and  was  glad  it  did  not  happen  sooner.  I  may  say 
that  the  wound  at  the  moment  felt  exactly  as  if 
some  one  had  hit  me  very  hard  there  with  a  big 
stick.  I  believe  this  is  frequently,  if  not  generally, 
the  case.  And  I  have  been  told  that  a  sword  cut 
is  like  a  very  severe  slash  with  a  whip,  but  that  I 
have  not  had  the  pleasure  of  feeling. 

We  returned  to  the  ship.  I  kept  my  slave  for 
several  days — he  was  most  useful  to  me — but  at 

159 


MY    NAVAL   CAREER 

last,  in  spite  of  Exeter  Hall  and  his  being  in 
British  territory,  viz.  a  man-of-war,  I  felt  I  must 
in  common  honesty  return  him  to  his  Portuguese 
master. 

Had  I  been  a  rich  man  I  might  have  offered 
to  buy  him  and  bring  him  to  England,  but  I  have 
no  doubt  he  was  really  much  happier  in  Sefior 
Oleviera's  plantation,  and  under  his  native  skies. 
He  used  to  sit  up  all  night  with  me  if  required, 
and  often  his  cool  grasp  of  my  hot  and  aching 
foot  was  a  great  comfort.  A  negro's  'skin  is 
naturally  cool,  and  though  you  may  say,  then  it 
is  Hke  a  snake,'  yet  it  has  its  advantages  in 
fervent  climes. 

The  boy  still  remamed  to  be  recovered.  I  found 
out  about  where  he  was  and  sent  word  that  all  the 
villages  there  would  be  destroyed  if  he  was  not  at 
once  brought  back.  This  succeeded  and  we  got 
him,  but  he  had  been  very  badly  wounded. 

My  lady  prisoner  cried  and  howled  near  me 
all  night,  but  when  I  had  got  the  boy  back  I 
returned  her.  My  other  prisoner  proved  to  be 
the  son  of  the  noted  pirate  chief — Manoel  Vacca — 
mentioned  above,  and  named  Movica,  so  he  was 
a  great  catch,  as  hostage  for  his  father. 

I  now  had  a  dreary  time  of  it.  My  wound 
proved  serious ;  my  surgeon  was  an  able  and  kind 
man,  but  took  to  drink  and  was  unable  to  come 
and  dress  my  wound  or  attend  properly  to  others 
wanting  him.  No  other  doctor  existed  within 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  at  least.  However, 
our  medical  officer's  career  was  not  much  pro- 
longed in  the  service  afterwards. 

i6o 


THE   'ROLLERS'   AT  ST.   HELENA 

I  have  little  more  coast  work  to  relate  ;  though 
quite  laid  up,  and  in  much  discomfort  or  pain, 
with  the  above  drawback,  and  short  of  officers, 
I  did  not  like  to  leave  my  station. 

After  several  weeks  the  Commodore  ^  arrived 
in  the  Rattlesnake,  and  was  most  kind,  and  ordered 
my  ship  to  Ascension  Island.  Never  was  I  more 
glad  to  arrive  anywhere;  to  quit  a  small,  hot 
cabin,  to  be  free  of  the  responsibility  of  the  ship, 
under  the  existing  circumstances,  and  to  have 
good  medical  attendance,  was  indeed  a  delightful 
change,  and  I  have  always  blessed  Ascension. 

I  have  previously  mentioned  the  island  when 
here  in  the  Pz^'w^ ;  it  is  about  the  size  of  St.  Helena. 
Everyone  did  all  they  could  for  me.  A  com- 
mander— Kirby — governed  the  island  ;  with  a 
lieutenant  under  him,  two  medical  officers  for 
the  hospital,  a  Captain  of  Marines,  and  some 
accountant  and  warrant  officers. 

A  curious  sea  phenomenon  here  is  *  the 
rollers,'  i.e.  the  sea  suddenly  and  for  no  apparent 
cause  rising  in  a  sort  of  ground  swell,  and  its 
waves  violently  breaking  on  the  shore,  and 
coming  higher  than  usual  as  they  do  so.  I 
believe  the  cause  is  thought  to  be  volcanic  sub- 
marine action.  Concerning  this  a  very  tragic 
event  had  just  occurred  there.  The  Captain  of 
Marines  and  his  wife  had  two  young  children ; 
their  nurse  took  them  one  day  to  the  beach,  when 
the  elder  waded  in  a  little  way,  as  children  often 
do.  Suddenly  the  rollers  set  in,  and  carried  the 
child  off  its  feet,  the  nurse  dropped  the  younger 

'  Now  Admiral  Sir  William  Dowell,  G.C.B. 

l6l  M 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

one  wliich  was  in  her  arms,  and  rushed  in  to  try 
and  save  the  first  one.  She  was  washed  away, 
and  the  baby  also.  The  sea,  and  the  sharks 
which  abound  there,  completed  the  catastrophe. 

I  used  to  see  at  Ascension  my  captive  Movica, 
*  the  quivered  Chief  of  Congo,'  as  Campbell 
sings  ;  he  was  fond  of  coming  up  to  me,  and  I 
felt  compassion  for  him  in  his  exile,  but  what 
became  of  him  I  do  not  know  :  as  I  was  but 
hobbhng  on  crutches  I  was  at  his  advantage 
when  we  met. 

While  I  was  at  Ascension  a  mishap  occurred 
to  the  Flora  which  might  have  been  most  serious. 
She  was  a  frigate  like  the  Pique,  but  unrigged,  and 
so  helpless.  She  lay  always  as  depot  ship  here. 
One  night  late,  the  watch  on  board  her  luckily 
looked  and  thought  that  the  lights  of  the  garrison 
got  fainter,  and  soon  decided  that  they  were 
becoming  more  distant. 

The  Lieutenant  of  the  island  happened  to  be 
on  board  her  that  night;  he  was  called,  ran  on 
deck,  and  gave  the  order  to  let  go  the  anchor. 

This  was  done,  and  brought  the  ship  up,  but 
only  just  in  time  before  she  got  off  the  bank,  into 
deep  water. 

Had  THAT  occurred,  the  ship  with  many 
invalids  on  board,  but  short  of  provisions  and 
water,  would  have  been  blown  away  by  the 
south-east  trade  wind,  helpless,  and  there  was  no 
seaworthy  craft  to  send  to  look  for  her. 

What  had  happened  was  that  the  ship's  bow 
long  rising  and  falling  with  the  swell  had  caused 
the  ring  connecting   the  cable  from  her  to  the 

162 


INVALIDED  HOME 

moorings  below  to  hammer  constantly  on  a  rock, 
till  it  became  disconnected.  Had  the  Flora's 
being  adrift  been  discovered,  say,  half  an  hour  later, 
the  results  to  those  on  board  would  have  been 
most  serious. 

I  cannot  pretend  that  I  left  the  West  Coast  of 
Africa  with  any  regret.  It  was  our  most  un- 
healthy and  most  monotonous  station.  This 
latter  has,  through  inducing  officers  to  drink, 
ruined  more  careers  than  any  other  station  has 
done. 

This  is  all  over  now,  but  was  well  known  when 
I  was  young,  and  *  the  coast  '  was  looked  on 
nearly  as  *  black  list.'  There  I  had  seen  the 
worst  phase  of  our  Navy,  and  not  in  my  case 
redeemed  by  a  good  set  of  officers. 

In  a  very  few  weeks  the  Commodore  arrived, 
a  medical  survey  was  ordered  on  me,  and  they 
resolved  I  must  be  invalided  home,  whether  I 
liked  it  or  not.  The  Roman,  a  Cape  mail 
steamer,  called  in,  and  I  was  ordered  passage  in 
her.  She  was  an  old  vessel,  with  a  single  screw, 
of  course  ;  at  sea  we  broke  one  of  our  cranks, 
but  at  last  crawled  into  Madeira,  repaired  damages 
and  finally  reached  Southampton.  She  brought 
home  the  headquarters  of  the  Cape  Mounted 
Rifles,  which  had  just  then  been  disbanded. 

I  went  to  London,  and  was  officially  medically 
surveyed  and  pronounced  unfit  for  service  for  a 
year  on  account  of  my  wound.  At  this  moment 
the  war  broke  out  between  the  French  and  Prus- 
sians in  1870,  and,  of  course,  absorbed  all  our 
attention. 

163  j •  M  Z 


CHAPTER  XIV 

COMMANDER— H.M.S.   L/^^LY— CAPTAIN 

Lausanne — H.M.S.    Vigilant — H.M.S.  Lively — North  of  Spain 
Channel    Fleet — Story    of    H.M.S.    Amazon — Promotion — 
Long  Half  Pay — Officers'  Lists — Greenwich  R.N.  College — 
France — Italy. 

Next  spring,  though  I  could  not  serve,  I  went 
to  Lausanne  in  Switzerland  to  improve  my 
French,  and  lodged  with  a  M.  Borel  and  his 
family.  Among  the  few  pensionnaires  were  a 
Prussian  named  Von  Arnim  and  a  German  from 
another  province,  both  also  learning  French.  We 
there  used  to  row  on  the  lake  together  and  the 
war  produced  many  arguments. 

In  the  pension  was  also  a  beautiful  young 
Danish  girl,  who  matched  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
description  of  the  '  Danish  maid,'  \vith  form  as 
fair  as  Denmark's  pine,  &c.  Von  Arnim  fell  a 
victim  to  her  charms,  and  I  chaffed  him  about 
Denmark's  revenge  over  Prussia. 

An  interned  French  soldier  was  being  ques- 
tioned about  the  war,  and  his  interlocutor  said 
to  him:  '  Mais  vous  ayez  manque  de  tout  n'est 
pas,  meme  des  tentes.'     The  soldier  replied  :     '  Ce 

164 


H.M.S.    VIGILANT  AND   LIVELY 

n'etait  pas  une  question  de  tente  (tante),  mais 
nous  avons  manque  de  Toncle.' 

I  was  suddenly  called  home  by  a  severe 
domestic  affliction.  In  spite  of  efforts  to  be 
certified  as  fit  to  serve,  I  could  not  advance  the 
period;  but  at  length  I  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  H.M.S.  Vigilant. 

This  vessel  was  at  Devonport ;  she  was  quite 
new  and  was  a  paddle-wheel  despatch  vessel. 
Her  armament  was  quite  insignificant.  Soon 
after  she  had  been  fitted  out  I  broke  my  right  arm 
out  hunting,  and  had  to  go  to  the  naval  hospital 
at  Stonehouse:  this  was  my  third  sojourn  as 
patient  in  a  naval  hospital,  and,  as  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, my  personal  experience  is  all  in  their  favour. 

While  I  was  in  the  hospital  my  ship  had  a  bad 
accident,  and  it  was  decided  to  pay  her  off  and 
turn  us  over  to  the  Lively.  This  vessel  was  also 
new,  and  nearly  a  sister  to  the  Vigilant,  but  she 
had  better  engines,  viz.  Penn's  oscillating  c^din- 
ders,  than  which  none  in  the  Navy  were  better  for 
paddle-wheel  ships.  She  could  steam  15  knots,  a 
speed  then  extraordinary  in  the  Navy. 

We  went  to  the  north-east  of  Spain  to  protect 
British  interests  in  the  Carlist  disturbances — 
hardly  a  war — then  going  on.  I  got  into  the 
River  Nervion  and  as  near  as  I  could  to  Bilbao, 
where  are  the  famous  Somorostro  iron  mines. 
The  country  is  very  varied  and  picturesque. 

At  San  Sebastian  we  lay  in  the  harbour  called 
'  La  Concha,'  and  while  there  I  visited  the  famous 
monastery  in  Aspeitia  founded  by  the  Jesuits  and 
built  of  black  marble,  but  never  completed.     It 

165 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

was  curious  to  see  so  grand  a  building  in  so  secluded 
a  spot. 

San  Sebastian  is  pleasant  as  a  place,  and 
interesting  from  its  history,  its  capture  by  us  in 
1813  not  being  its  only  attraction.  I  visited  the 
graves  of  some  of  our  countrymen  killed  in  the 
Carlist  War  in  1836,  under  Sir  de  Lacy  Evans,  and 
remember  one  with  this  inscription  : 

'  To  the  memory  of  poor  Court  who  fell  under  his 
colours  at  the  battle  of  Aeta.  Beauty  and 
friendship  truly  mourn  him.' 

From  Santander  I  paid  my  first  visit  to  Madrid, 
and  things  having  quieted  down,  and  complete 
indulto  proclaimed,  I  was  ordered  to  join  the 
Channel  Fleet  under  Admiral  Sir  Geoffrey  Hornby. 

We  have  had  few,  if  any,  better  handlers  of 
a  squadron  at  sea  than  the  above  officer,  and 
though  he  had  not  had  the  good  fortune  to  see 
war  service,  I  am  sure  that  during  the  latter  years 
of  his  active  service  life,  the  Navy  generally,  had 
we  become  engaged  in  a  serious  naval  war,  would 
have  wished  to  see  him  in  command  of  our  principal 
fleet. 

A  sailor's  life  so  frequently  calls  for  sudden 
action  in  emergency,  for  coolness  and  decision  at 
critical  times,  and  for  the  evident  power  both  to 
command  and  to  lead  men,  that  the  good  officer 
can  be  judged  quite  well  without  the  mere  going 
under  fire. 

Our  first  ser\'ice  was  a  popular  visit  to  the 
home  ports,  of  Ireland,  and  the  West  of  England 
and    Scotland,    Li\'crpool    and    the     Cl3'de,    &c. 

166 


WITH  THE   CHANNEL  FLEET 

These  cruises  do  not  improve  efficiency,  but  are 
no  doubt  of  much  value  in  helping  to  popularise 
the  Navy  ;  besides  which  it  is  only  fair  that  the 
public  should  have  a  chance  of  seeing  what  they 
pa}^  for.  The  hospitality  shown  us  was  un- 
bounded, indeed  you  required  to  be  young  to 
keep  up  with  the  luncheons,  dinners,  and  dances, 
besides  your  own  work. 

At  Devonport  I  always  (by  order)  went  in  and 
out  of  the  Hamoaze  without  either  pilot  or  har- 
bour master.  One  summer  morning  I  arrived 
very  early  at  Portsmouth  and  went  straight  in, 
but  could  see  no  buoy,  wharf,  or  berth,  to  take  up. 
A  signal  of  inquiry  to  the  flagship  only  got  the 
answer,  '  Anchor  as  convenient,'  no  authority  being 
out  of  bed.  Seeing  only  the  Royal  Yacht's  buoy 
vacant,  I  thought  it  good  enough  for  me,  but  to 
my  surprise  on  steering  for  it  ran  on  shore.  How- 
ever, no  harm  was  done. 

This  may  sound  odd,  but  charts  of  Portsmouth 
Harbour  were  not  allowed  to  us. 

In  the  autumn  I  had  a  collision  outside  the 
Needles,  on  my  way  to  Portsmouth.  It  was  a 
very  dark  night,  and  I  was  going  fast  ;  suddenly 
a  schooner  loomed  out  on  my  starboard  bow,  cross- 
ing my  track.  She  could  not  be  avoided,  though 
we,  of  course,  tried  ;  her  jib-boom  passed  close  over 
our  heads  on  the  bridge  as  we  ducked  down,  and 
the  smash  then  came. 

Her  figurehead  was  found  lying  on  our  quarter- 
deck— it  was  that  of  a  woman — and  the  First-lieu- 
tenant rushing  on  deck  in  the  dark  mistook  it  at 
first  for  a  dead  body.    I  was  told  afterwards  it  was 

167 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

an  effigy  of  the  owner's  daughter,  who  was  married 
that  day.     A  verj'  odd  chance,  and  an  ill  omen. 

For  the  winter  the  Channel  Fleet  was  abroad, 
which  is  in  all  service  views  the  best  thing  to  do 
with  them  ;  and  no  officer  who  has  the  service 
at  heart  would  wish,  unless  necessary  for  the 
protection  of  the  country,  to  remain  in  England 
between  the  months  of  October  and  May. 

All  exercises,  drills,  &c.,  are  better  carried  out 
farther  south  with  longer  days  and  milder  weather, 
besides  the  question  of  having  your  men  on 
board ;  also  it  is  best  for  health. 

Before  I  entered  the  service  Lisbon  was  a 
frequent  haunt  for  our  Channel  Fleet,  but  for 
many  years  now  it  has  been  much  less  so.  The 
strong  current  in  the  Tagus  is  the  great  drawback 
to  it  as  an  anchorage,  and  even  when  moored  ships 
have  been  known  to  drag. 

When  I  was  in  the  Lively  we  were  there  at 
various  times.  There  were  then  regular  roulette 
tables  at  which  the  public  could  play,  known  by 
the  name  of  '  Pero  Grande.'  It  was  supposed 
to  be  *  taboo,'  and  was  so  officially,  but  such  re- 
strictions are  hard  to  enforce.  The  opera  was, 
of  course,  a  great  attraction  to  us. 

Talking  of  the  opera  at  Lisbon  I  will  venture 
to  relate  a  story  in  which  it  is  just  mentioned 
because  my  great-uncle  Richard  Seymour,  then 
First-lieutenant  of  the  Amazon,  figures  in  it.  The 
Amazon  was  with  Nelson's  Fleet  off  Toulon,  when 
the  Admiral  in  order  to  get  his  despatches  to 
England  sent  that  ship  with  them  to  Lisbon, 
choosing  her  partly  to  give  her  a  chance  of  prize- 

i68 


AN  ANECDOTE  OF   NELSON'S   FLEET 

money.  Sir  John  Orde  was  blockading  Cadiz  ;  he 
was  no  friend  of  Nelson's,  but  his  senior  officer  ; 
and  Nelson  told  Parker  in  a  private  note  to  avoid 
Sir  John's  Fleet  if  he  could.  This  Parker  tried  to 
do,  going  through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  in  the 
night  and  hugging  the  African  shore.  However, 
he  was  caught  by  Captain  Blackwood  in  the 
Euryalus,  one  of  Orde's  cruisers.  Blackwood 
came  on  board  and  gave  Parker  orders  from  Orde 
to  join  his  Flag.  Parker  showed  Nelson's  note, 
and  said :  '  I  believe  you  are  under  obligations  to 
his  Lordship,  do  you  not  think  it  would  have  been 
better  if  you  had  not  seen  me  to-night  ?  '  Black- 
wood said  *  Yes, '  and  acted  accordingly. 

The  Amazon  arrived  at  Lisbon  and  gave  the 
despatches  to  the  packet  for  England.  Parker's 
First-lieutenant  then  said  to  him :  '  It  would  be  a 
great  treat  to  the  officers  who  have  not  been  at  a 
civilised  place  for  a  long  time  to  have  a  run  on  shore 
and  go  to  the  opera.'  But  Parker  said  :  *  No,  our 
best  chance  of  prize-money  is  to  go  to  sea  at  once 
and  cruise  for  a  day  or  two  off  this  coast.'  They 
went  out,  and  next  day  at  daylight  sighted  a 
vessel  which  proved  to  be  a  Spaniard  with 
treasure  on  board,  and  a  prize. 

Parker's  share  was  £20,000.  When  he  rejoined 
Nelson,  the  latter  asked  what  he  had  done,  and 
hearing  the  above,  remarked  :  '  Well,  Fm  glad 
you've  got  some  prize-money,  but  I  wish  it  had 
been  only  £10,000,  because  now  I  suppose  you  will 
get  lazy  and  only  want  to  be  on  shore  and  spend 
it.'  My  great-uncle  was  killed  on  board  the 
Amazon  when  she  captured  the  Belle  Poule. 

169 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

We  were  at  Gibraltar  in  February  1873,  when 
we  heard  that  King  Amadeus  was  driven  from  his 
throne  in  Madrid,  and  had  retired  to  Lisbon. 
Recently  the  opposite  might  have  occurred. 
'  Hodie  mihi  eras  tibi.'  In  consequence  a  few 
ships,  mine  for  one,  were  ordered  to  Lisbon  to 
offer  the  ex-King  conduct  to  Italy,  which  he 
declined  ;  and  it  only  gave  us  a  reception  and 
banquet  by  the  King  of  Portugal  in  his  palace. 

While  at  Gibraltar  I  was  at  times  over  at 
Tangier,  where  was  Sir  John  Drummond  Hay, 
then  Consul-General  in  Morocco,  and  soon  to  be 
Minister  there.  He  almost  ruled  over  the  im- 
mediate neighbourhood.  He  was  equally  able 
and  agreeable,  and  used  to  take  us  out  wild-boar 
shooting.  The  position  had  been  a  '  family  living,' 
and  he  showed  me  the  mark  on  the  wall  in  his 
drawing-room,  where  a  round  shot  came  through 
when  the  French  under  the  Prince  de  Joinville 
bombarded  Tangier  in  1844.  His  mother  was 
in  the  room  at  the  time. 

Some  of  us  used  to  make  short  trips  of  two  or 
three  days  to  see  places  of  interest  as  the  service 
permitted,  and  I  was  thus  staying  at  Cintra  when 
I  got  a  telegram  to  say  I  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  captain.  Captain  Dowell  (mentioned 
before)  was  one  of  our  party,  and  justly  remarked 
that  I  had  now  entered  on  quite  a  different  phase 
of  the  service,  having  got  on  to  a  purely  seniority 
list. 

In  some  foreign  navies  they  have  seniority  to 
the  rank  of  captain  and  then  selection  to  the 
flag  list.     I  have  always  thought  this  quite  wrong, 

170 


PROMOTED  TO   CAPTAIN 

and  ours  much  the  best  plan.  We  select,  and  thus 
eliminate,  officers,  till  they  get  to  the  very  im- 
portant rank  of  captain ;  which  rank  has  then  a 
stabilit}^  and  added  grandeur  that  it  could  not 
have  were  it  still  a  struggle  for  the  next  step. 

This  I  say;  but  always,  of  course,  bearing  in 
mind  that  no  officer  can  force  the  Admiralty  to 
employ  him  ;  and  that  besides  age,  periods  of 
non-employment  condemn  an  officer  to  retirement. 
I  could  say  much  more  about  this,  but  will  not  here. 

In  a  few  weeks  my  successor  arrived,  and  I 
left  my  ship  and  the  Channel  Fleet  with  real 
regret,  hardly  effaced  by  promotion.  The  Coast 
of  Africa  had  disgusted  me  with  the  service,  but 
the  Channel  Fleet  restored  my  love  for  it. 

In  the  year  1873,  when  I  was  made  a  captain, 
and  for  several  years  before  and  afterwards, 
officers  of  that  rank  were  almost  always  on  half-pay 
for  five  years  before  they  got  a  ship,  unless  they 
happened  to  go  as  flag-captains,  and  flag-cap- 
tains were  usually  men  who  had  been  commanders 
of  large  ships. 

It  is  no  doubt  bad  for  the  service  to  ha\'e 
officers  five  years  unemployed,  but  it  mattered 
less  then  than  it  would  now  when  things  change 
rapidly,  and  ships  get  out  of  fashion  nearly  as 
quickly  as  ladies'  hats. 

I  am  all  for  officers  of  the  rank  of  captain,  and 
higher  ranks,  being  at  times  on  half-pay  and  thus 
able  to  travel,  mix  with  the  world  and  general 
society,  get  their  minds  enlarged,  and  learn  that 
the  quarter-deck  is  not  the  world. 

171 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

At  present  officers  are  in  my  opinion  too  short 
a  time  in  the  rank  of  captain,  and  therefore 
unable  even  to  get  enough  of  the  very  valuable 
experience  to  be  learned  in  that  most  important 
rank.  Indeed  it  has  lately  happened  that  officers 
had  to  be  promoted  to  rear-admiral  without  having 
served  the  regulation  time  at  sea.  This  is  all 
wrong,  but  not  easy  at  once  to  remedy,  unless  by 
enlarging  the  captains'  list,  which  would  mean 
reducing  for  a  time  the  lists  below  it ;  and 
these  lists  also  are  no  larger  than  is  required 
for  the  large  Fleet  we  feel  necessary  to  keep  in 
commission. 

The  lieutenants'  list  is  now  some  1900  in 
number,  whereas  forty  years  ago  it  was  only  660 ; 
it  is,  however,  none  too  numerous,  partly  because 
we  must  have  more  large  ships  and  swarms  of 
small  craft  in  commission,  and  partly  because 
the  battle-ships'  quarters  are  so  distributed  and 
divided  off,  that  many  more  officers  than  formerly 
are  required  to  command  them. 

In  1847,  when  of  course  no  retired  list  existed, 
there  were  2448  lieutenants  on  the  so-called 
*  active  list,'  but  the  commission  of  the  senior  one 
was  of  December  1796  (over  fifty  years),  and  nearly 
1600  were  of  about  twent}^  years'  seniority.  A 
frigate  seventy  years  ago  had  usually  only  three 
lieutenants  and  a  master — just  enough  in  fact 
to  keep  the  watches ;  and  I  believe  that  till  thirty 
3^ears  ago  only  three-deckers  ever  carried  eight 
lieutenants,  a  number  often  both  borne  and 
wanted  in  ships  now. 

Mr.  Childers,  when  First  Lord,  had  brought 
172 


ROYAL  NAVAL   COLLEGE,   GREEXWICH 

in  the  age  retirement  scheme,  and  done  much 
to  clear  the  Hsts.  In  1873  Mr.  Goschen,  then 
First  Lord,  completed  the  above  by  a  temporary- 
offer  of  retirement  on  a  very  liberal  scale.  So 
much  so  that  I  felt  I  could  never  in  future  com- 
plain of  my  pay,  because  I  had  not  taken  that 
retirement. 

But  all  this  is  a  digression,  and  to  return  to 
my  humble  self,  I  had  probably  five  years'  half- 
pay  to  look  forward  to.  The  Royal  Naval 
College  at  Greenwich  had  been  opened  the  pre- 
vious summer,  so  I  applied  to  go  there  as  a  student. 

Its  first  President  was  the  late  Admiral  Sir 
Cooper  Key,  than  whom  no  better  could  have 
been  selected.  His  abilities,  scientific  knowledge, 
judgment,  and  encouraging  manner  with  those 
under  him,  showed  him  to  be  the  very  man  for 
the  appointment.  I  joined  the  Greenwich  College 
in  the  autumn  of  1873,  when  the  first  real  *  session, ' 
so  called,  began,  and  remained  there  till  its  end 
the  next  autumn.  All  students  above  the  rank  of 
lieutenant  were  on  half-pay,  and  we  all,  I  think, 
felt  it  was  a  great  privilege  to  us  to  be  allowed  there 
on  such  terms  ;  though  the  further  boon  of  full 
pay  has  since  been  granted. 

The  winter  of  1874  I  spent  at  Cannes  with 
my  father  and  sisters,  and  I  certainly  prefer  the 
Riviera  as  it  was  then  to  what  it  is  now,  when  over- 
building and  crowds  of  motors  have  quite  changed 
the  place,  and  the  dust  of  the  latter  nearly  chokes 
you  and  obscures  the  view. 

In  the  spring  we  travelled  in  Italy,  but  as  I  do 
not  presume  to  think  my  private  movements  and 

173 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

doings  will  interest  anyone  who  may  honour  me  by 
reading  my  memoirs,  I  shall  as  a  rule  touch  but 
casually  on  them. 

In  1875  it  was  decided  to  send  out  an  Arctic 
expedition  to  try  and  reach  the  North  Pole,  and 
Captain  George  Nares  was  appointed  to  command 
it.  My  secondary  object  in  1867  in  going  to  the 
Arctic  regions  in  a  whaler  was  to  be  qualified  for 
a  Government  expedition  if  one  were  sent.  I 
therefore,  of  course,  offered  my  services  on  this 
occasion,  and  should  have  got  command  of  the 
second  ship  (The  Discovery)  were  it  not  that  the 
naval  medical  authorities  were  the  same  men 
who  had  surveyed  me  after  my  wound  in  Africa. 
and  would  not  now  pass  me  for  the  expedition. 
As  is  well  known  the  command  of  the  second  ship 
was  then  given  to  my  friend  Captain  Henry 
Stephenson. 1 

Some  months  after  I  happened  to  visit  Birken- 
head to  stay  with  my  friend  Captain  Meyer,  R.N., 
and  seeing  there  H.M.S.  Orontes,  a  troopship,  pre- 
paring for  re-commission,  the  idea  occurred  to  me 
that,  though  I  could  not  yet  get  a  corvette,  the 
Admiralty  might  be  induced  to  give  me  command 
of  the  above  ship.  I  therefore  made  the  request, 
and  as  their  Lordships,  especially  Admiral  Sir 
Alexander  Milne,  then  First  Sea  Lord,  were  very 
kind  to  me,  on  account  of  the  above  Arctic  busi- 
ness, they  made  an  exception  in  my  favour  and 
appointed  me  to  the  ship. 

The  trooping  service  had  long  been  at  times 

'  Now  Admiral  Sir  Henry  Stephenson,  Gentleman  Usher  of 
the  Black  Rod. 


APPOINTED  TO  THE   COMMAND  OF  A  TROOPSHIP 

conducted  by  the  Navy.  Everyone  remembers 
the  loss  of  the  Birkenhead  in  1852.  Under  the 
master  hand  of  Admiral  Sir  William  Mends  the 
Troop  Service  was  reformed,  and  became  worthy 
of  its  very  important  duties. 

It  might,  and  I  hope  did,  help  to  make  our 
two  sister  services  allied,  and  pleasantly  known 
to  each  other,  but  after  all  it  is  not  the  proper 
duty  of  the  Navy.  It  has  been  quite  rightly 
given  up  by  them,  and  I  think  its  dissolution  is 
regretted  by  neither  sailor  nor  soldier. 

For  a  naval  officer  it  was  a  curious  experience. 
It  greatly  enlarged  my  knowledge  of  that  seemingly 
volatile,  yet  really  constant,  element  called 
'  Human  Nature,'  and  in  the  knowledge  of  which 
I  should  think  a  man  who  has  spent  his  life  as 
officer  and  captain  of  a  mail  steamer  must  be  a 
past  master. 

The  Orontes  had  just  been  lengthened  by 
fifty  feet  amidships,  and  was  a  very  efficient 
vessel.  She  was  built  of  iron,  and  had  just 
been  fitted  with  compound  engines,  then  only  first 
coming  into  the  Navy. 


175 


CHAPTER  XV 

H.M.S.   ORONTES 

Lord  Lytton — Bombay — Irish  Militia — Ceylon — Singapore — 
Mauritius — Natal — The  Cape — South  African  Ports — Bad 
Harbours — Wreck  of  Eurydice — Occupation  of  Cyprus — 
A  Derelict  —  Bermuda  —  Halifax  —  Barbados  —  Trinidad  — 
Jamaica — Thunderer  Explosion. 

At  Portsmouth  in  March  1876  I  commissioned  the 
above  ship,  as  what  was  called  '  an  Imperial  troop- 
ship'— in  distinction  from  the  four  Indian  troop- 
ships, which  were  exclusively  for  that  work; 
while  our  sort  were  for  service  everywhere  as 
required. 

Our  first  job  was  to  go  to  Bombay,  taking  out 
odds  and  ends,  and  conveying  Lord  Lytton,  who 
was  going  to  be  Governor-General  of  India,  accom- 
panied by  his  wife,  family,  and  suite.  In  the 
above  society  our  voyage  out  was  very  pleasant. 

The  Lyttons  crossed  the  isthmus  b}^  train,  via 
Cairo,  and  while  my  ship  was  detained  at  Ismailia 
I  made  acquaintance  with  the  great  Ferdinand  de 
Lesseps,  who  asked  me  to  breakfast.  He  was 
then  to  me  the  courteous  hospitable  French  gentle- 
man, very  different  from  what  he  was  to  us  when 

176 


'TOWERS  OF   SILENCE'  AT  BOMBAY 

I  was  there  in  1882.     But  he  had  very  much  to 
try  him  then. 

At  Suez,  by  arrangement,  we  met  H.R.H.  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (our  late  King)  on  his  way  home 
in  the  Serapis.  At  Aden  Lord  Lytton  landed  in 
state,  it  being  the  first  point  reached  of  his  new 
dominions.  Everyone  turned  out  to  see  the  pro- 
cession through  the  town,  such  as  it  is.  Aden  is 
to  my  mind  like  a  cross  between  Gibraltar  and 
Ascension  Island.  It  is  hot,  healthy  and  dull,  and 
Europeans  often  get  fat  there ;  yet  I  have  known 
people  who  liked  it. 

On  7th  April  we  reached  Bombay,  and  Lord 
Lytton  landed  with  great  ceremony. 

I  think  the  '  towers  of  silence  '  the  most  curious 
things  at  Bombay.  They  are  of  stone,  round  in 
shape,  about  25  feet  high  and  160  in  diameter, 
with  one  small  door  about  4  feet  square  for 
entrance.  Inside  is  a  flat  stone  floor  marked  in 
four  circles.  The  outer  is  for  the  men,  the  next 
for  the  women,  inside  that  for  the  children,  and 
in  the  centre  is  a  deep  well  into  which  the  bones 
are  thrown  after  they  have  been  well  picked  and 
cleaned  by  the  numerous  vultures  that  are  kept 
to  devour  the  corpses.  It  is  a  gruesome  sight,  and 
the  vultures  look  worthy  of  their  ghastly  occupa- 
tion. In  readiness  for  the  vultures  the  corpses 
are  placed  on  their  backs  in  their  respective  circles, 
and  divested  of  their  clothes. 

While  at  Bombay  I  dined  with  a  Parsee 
gentleman ;  no  ladies  appeared  till  after  dinner, 
when  we  were  taken  into  a  room  where  we  found 
them  with  bowls  of  scented  water,  and  garlands  of 

177 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

flowers,  with  which  last  we  were  copiously  adorned, 
and  we  then  left  for  our  boats  to  go  off.  But  we 
endeavoured  to  hide  our  floral  decorations  from 
the  anxious  gaze  of  our  boats'  crews.  The  Parsees 
are  a  much  respected  sect ;  they  worship,  I  believe, 
both  the  sun  and  the  moon.  In  their  temples  a 
sacred  flame  is  always  kept  alight. 

On  i8th  April  we  left  for  England  with  about  a 
thousand  troops  on  board,  and  arrived  at  Ports- 
mouth on  22nd  May.  My  homeward  journey 
showed  me  that  Indian  life  is  apt  to  be  demoralising 
both  physically  and  morally  to  the  English  of  both 
sexes.  This  statement  will  no  doubt  meet  with 
contradiction,  but,  be  it  as  it  may,  I  have  no 
doubt  that  modern  times  are  an  improvement  on 
former  ones. 

I  was  told  by  Major  P of  the  92nd  Regiment 

that  the  widows  of  privates  married  '  on  the 
strength  '  are  often  engaged  to  a  would-be  husband, 
while  the  first  is  only  very  ill. 

Military  married  officers  were  not  allowed  to 
bring  their  wives  for  passage  if  an  addition  to  the 
family  was  likely  to  occur  en  voyage.  When  off 
the  Ashrafi  lighthouse  on  our  way  home,  the  wife 
of  an  officer  of  the  Bengal  Staff  Corps  presented 
him  with  a  daughter.  He  came  to  apologise  to  me 
for  this  escapade,  excusing  it  on  the  plea  of  its 
being  the  first  child.  I  accepted  the  excuse,  and 
only  suggested  that  Ashrafi  would  be  a  pretty  and 
appropriate  name  for  the  little  girl. 

During  the  summer  we  were  employed  on  what 
was  called  *  coastwise  service,'  i.e.  about  the 
British  Isles. 

178 


CONVOYING   IRISH  MILITIA   REGIMENTS 

In  July  we  brought  two  Irish  Mihtia  regiments, 
viz.  the  Armagh  and  the  Monaghan,  over  to 
England  for  the  manoeuvres.  The  Armagh  Militia 
own  a  very  interesting  trophy  of  which  they  are 
very  proud,  viz.  a  French  regimental  colour  of 
the  2nd  Battalion  of  the  70th  Regiment  of  the  line, 
taken  by  the  Armagh  Militia  in  1798  at  the  Battle 
of  Ballinbrack,  when  the  French  invaded  Ireland. 
The  flag  is  white,  with  a  gold  border ;  in  the  centre 
is  a  red  cap  of  liberty,  and  inscribed  on  the  colours 
is  '  Discipline  et  soumission  aux  lois  militaires.' 
Colonel  W.  Cross  of  the  Armagh  regiment  told  me 
that  this  flag  is  always  kept  by  the  Colonel  for 
the  time  being  in  his  private  house,  and  that  one 
day  being  in  Paris  and  at  the  Invalides,  a  French- 
man pointed  out  to  him  a  British  flag  there  that 
had  been  captured  from  us.  The  Colonel  put  his 
eyeglass  up  and  regarding  the  flag  with  great  interest 
said,  *  Yes,  I  see  it,  and  I  keep  one  of  yours 
captured  by  us  in  my  own  house.' 

On  8th  August  while  off  the  coast  of  Wales,  with 
troops  on  board,  and  steaming  at  our  best  speed,  the 
low-pressure  piston  suddenly  smashed,  and  having 
only  one  screw  we  were  helpless  as  to  steam. 
However  we  were  barque  rigged,  so  I  handled  the 
ship  under  sail  till  next  day,  when  we  got  into 
Holyhead,  landed  our  troops  and  were  towed 
to  Birkenhead  for  repairs,  by  Messrs.  Laird  &  Co., 
who  had  both  built  and  lengthened  the  ship. 
The  West  float  of  Birkenhead  was  then  rather  a  sad 
sight,  being  crammed  with  vessels,  chiefly  steamers, 
unable  to  find  employment.  The  old  Great  Britain 
was  there. 

179  N2 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

Our  repairs  were  completed  about  the  end  of 
October,  when  we  went  to  Portsmouth.  While 
there  the  Arctic  expedition  under  Captain  Nares 
returned  ;  they  had  done  what  they  could  by  that 
route,  and  Commander  Albert  Markham  had 
attained  the  then  highest  latitude. 

Our  next  trip  was  to  Singapore  with  the  74th 
Highlanders.  On  12th  November  we  went  to 
Portsmouth,  and  calling  at  Belfast  reached  Malta 
on  the  29th.  On  the  30th,  St.  Andrew's  Day,  I  dined 
with  the  42nd  Highlanders,  the  '  Black  Watch,'  at 
Florian  barracks,  a  good  old-fashioned  Scotch 
festival  dinner,  such  a  sight  as  is,  I  fancy,  quite  ob- 
solete now,  to  the  detriment  of  wine  merchants. 

I  have  known  nearly  every  Scotch  regiment 
in  the  Army,  some  very  well.  I  am  not  at  all 
prejudiced  in  their  favour,  having  I  believe  no 
Scotch  blood  in  my  body,  but  I  have  always  liked 
the  Scotch  regiments,  and  never  known  one  with  a 
bad  tone  in  it. 

We  passed  the  Suez  Canal  in  53  hours  and 
20  minutes,  say  2J  days,  being  about  eighteen 
hours  under  way  at  an  average  speed  of  4*8  knots. 
I  only  mention  this  for  comparison  with  the  present 
faster  time.  At  that  date  the  British  shipping 
passing  the  canal  was  seven-tenths  of  the  whole 
world's  traffic  through  it ;  the  charges  on  tonnage 
dues  (for  which  every  ship  was  given  a  special 
certificate  in  England  or  her  own  country)  were 
10  francs  a  ton,  Suez  Canal  measurement  ;  and 
pilotage  dues  were  20  francs  per  decimetre  of  draft 
of  water.  Passenger  dues  were  10  francs  each  for 
all  over  twelve  years  old,  and  5  francs  for  those  under 

180 


SUEZ  CANAL— CEYLON— STRAITS  SETTLEMENTS 

it,  but  above  three  years  old.  The  total  for  the 
Oronfes  passage  on  this  occasion  was  about  £1416. 

The  bitter  lakes  between  Lake  Timsah  and 
Suez  were  evidently  the  sea  once,  and  on  drying  up 
such  a  deposit  of  salt  was  left  behind  that  they 
have  become  salter  and  denser  than  the  ocean,  to 
such  an  extent  that  our  Indian  troopships  while 
passing  through  them  drew  four  inches  less  water 
than  they  did  in  ordinary  sea  water. 

Our  next  port  was  Trincomalee  in  Ceylon,  than 
which  perhaps  no  tropical  island  is  more  beautiful, 
and  more  than  that  cannot  be  said  of  any  place. 
The  above  port  is  our  naval  station  in  the  island, 
but  now  much  discarded. 

The  Admiral's  house  here  is,  or  was,  a  most 
delightful  one.  While  in  the  harbour  a  military 
officer  got  a  sunstroke  in  an  odd  way ;  he  went  to 
sleep  one  afternoon  in  the  saloon,  quite  shaded ;  the 
ship  swung  and  the  sun  shone  on  him  with  the 
above  result. 

Sober  Island  in  the  harbour  is  a  grand  place 
for  picnics,  that  not  seldom  made  the  name  a 
satire  ;  and  it  has  a  charming  bathing  place, 
thought  safe  till  a  few  years  ago  when  an  officer 
was  there  seized  by  a  shark. 

Our  next  port  was  Penang,  the  word  meaning 
'  betel  nut,'  of  which  many  trees  abound.  From 
here  we  went  to  the  Binding  Islands  in  the  Straits 
of  Malacca.  These  islands  are  rarely  visited  by 
troopships,  but  the  close  of  the  Para  war  took  us 
there,  and  from  thence  we  went  to  Singapore  via 
Malacca.  The  Governor  here,  Captain  E.  Shaw, 
R.N.,  had  been  one   of  my  first  shipmates,  and 

181 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

with  his  advice  I  got  several  Malacca  canes. 
They  grow  like  ivy  twisted  round  trees  and  are 
straightened  artificially.  The  less  '  rib  '  the  better 
the  cane  and  more  valued ;  when  cut  and  dry 
they  are  naturally  a  light  colour,  but  are  darkened 
for  the  market  by  smoking  them  over  a  fire  into 
which  tobacco  juice  is  put.  Captain  Shaw  told  me 
he  took  some  first-rate  canes  to  a  man  in  London 
to  mount,  who  tried  to  make  him  admire  others 
with  large  ribs,  which  were  of  really  much  less 
value. 

At  Singapore  I  visited  our  Government  Prison. 
It  contained  about  600  prisoners,  30  being 
European  and  the  rest  Asiatics,  of  whom  five-sixths 
were  Chinese.  Corporal  punishment  for  offences  in 
the  prison  is  given — I  happened  to  see  it  done — with 
a  rattan  about  half  an  inch  thick  on  the  bare  skin 
— a  most  severe  punishment,  marking  men  for  life. 
Flogging  in  our  Navy,  of  which  I  have  seen  much, 
is  child's  play  in  comparison. 

We  embarked  the  ist  Battalion  of  the  loth 
Regiment  for  England,  having  other  drafts  also, 
making  1030  troops. 

I  paid  a  visit  to  the  (now  late)  Maharajah 
of  Johore,  who  was  a  perfect  specimen  of  the 
high-bred  Asiatic.  Here  I  ate  my  first  durian,  a 
fruit  equally  praised  and  abused.  Wallace  calls 
it  '  the  king  of  fruits,'  but  it  is  no  doubt  an 
acquired  taste.  Its  smell  is  unpleasant,  its  inside 
pulp,  which  is  what  you  eat,  and  has  been  rather  fitly 
compared  by  its  lovers  to  a  mixture  of  sherry, 
custard,  and  onions. 

From  Singapore  we  went  to  Mauritius,  but  as 
182 


IN  THE   WAKE   OF   A  CYCLONE 

measles  broke  out  on  the  way  we  were  kept  in 
quarantine  and  could  not  land — a  great  disappoint- 
ment. I  arrived  off  the  harbour  Port  Louis  early 
one  morning,  and  seeing  no  sign  of  a  pilot  went  in. 
On  hearing  we  had  the  measles  the  horror  expressed 
by  the  health  authorities  was  amusing;  several 
newspapers — in  French— were  sent  to  me  calling 
me  long  bad  words  which  I  had  to  look  out  in  the 
dictionary  ! 

It  is,  of  course,  a  cyclone  region,  but  they  are 
now  so  well  understood  that  steamers  in  the  open 
ocean  should  be  able  to  keep  pretty  clear  of  them. 
I  felt  sure  I  was  following  one,  as  proved  to  be  the 
case.  A  man  assured  me  that  stone  that  was  in 
a  cemetery  on  a  pedestal  six  feet  high  was  blown 
in  a  cyclone  a  distance  of  seventy  yards  in  all, 
crossing  a  ditch  at  least  two  feet  wide. 

We  next  went  to  Natal,  anchoring  off  Durban 
to  land  some  of  the  8oth  Regiment  in  quarantine 
under  a  high  cliff.  This  is  a  real  bad  anchorage, 
both  because  it  is  unsheltered  and  because  the 
bottom  is  rocky.  No  end  of  lost  anchors  and 
cables  are  there.  From  Natal  we  went  to  East 
London,  where  there  is  no  pretence  of  shelter, 
and  then  to  Simon's  Bay.  Here,  for  the  first  time 
since  Singapore  and  the  only  time  till  we  got  home, 
we  had  pratique. 

We  called  next  at  St.  Helena,  which  island  like 
several  others  was  discovered  by  the  Portuguese, 
taken  from  them  by  the  Dutch,  and  from  the 
latter  by  us.  Here  we  were  in  quarantine,  and  a 
Captain  of  Artillery,  bringing  off  some  passengers 
for  England,  himself  insisted  on  coming  up  the 

183 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

ship's  side  to  the  gangway,  with  the  result  that  the 
island  would  not  have  him  back,  so  he  came  to 
England. 

We  then  called  at  Ascension,  and  from  there 
came  home,  and  landed  our  regiment,  which  had 
been  on  board  the  ship  for  three  and  a  half  months, 
a  most  unusual  and  unheard-of  thing  in  these 
days. 

In  June  1877  I  had  another  South  African  trip. 
We  embarked  the  88th  Connaught  Rangers  at 
Kingston,  and  lying  there  was  Lord  Clanmorris's 
yacht  with  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Connaught  on 
board. 

I  dined  there  on  a  Saturday  night,  and  the 
Duke  said  he  would  come  to  church  on  board 
the  next  day  and  see  the  troops.  The  Colonel, 
when  I  told  him,  said :  'Oh,  they  are  nearly  all 
Roman  Catholics,  and  cannot  be  forced  to  come, 
and  are  supposed  not  to  by  their  Church,  but  I  '11 
tell  them  the  Duke  is  coming.'  He  did,  and  they 
all  came  as  if  they  had  been  zealous  Protestants, 
and  they  were  none  the  worse  for  it. 

The  Connaught  Rangers  had  with  them  a 
curious  trophy  ;  it  was  called  *  Jingling  Johnny '  and 
was  made  of  brass.  It  is  a  pyramid  in  shape, 
but  round,  not  square,  all  open  work  ;  about  six 
feet  high  and  covered  with  bells  that  rang  as  it  was 
moved.  It  was  carried  at  the  head  of  the  regiment 
with  the  band.  The  88th  had  captured  it  in  the 
Peninsular  War  from  a  French  regiment  that  had 
taken  it  in  Egypt  where  it  originated. 

On  our  way  to  the  Cape  we  called  at  St.  Vincent 
in  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  for  coal,  also  at  Ascension 

184 


ST.   HELENA   AND   CAPE   TOWN 

and  St.  Helena.  At  this  last  were  two  tortoises 
about  2j  feet  long  which  are  known  to  be  over 
100  years,  and  some  say  200  years,  old. 

On  one  occasion  here  I  was  coming  down 
Ladder  Hill,  which  was  a  flight  of  708  broad 
wooden  steps ;  the  effect  on  one's  legs  of  running  as 
fast  as  possible  down  it  was  said  to  be  curious, 
so  I  tried  it  with  two  other  officers,  and  afterwards 
for  two  or  three  days  our  knees  gave  way  whenever 
we  tried  to  go  down  an}^  stairs,  though  we  were  all 
right  walking  on  the  level. 

At  Cape  Town  I  stayed  with  that  charming, 
and  able,  and  ill-used  man,  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  and 
with  him  made  a  short  trip  up  country.  We 
now  had  a  very  rough  experience  trooping  to 
East  London  and  Durban  in  the  winter  months 
down  there.  I  lost  two  of  my  three  anchors  and 
had  to  put  to  sea  when  bad  weather  came  on  to 
save  the  other  one.  At  East  London  the  troops 
were  landed  and  embarked  in  large  decked 
lighters,  the  passengers  all  below,  battened  down 
and  in  the  dark  ;  the  crew  on  deck  to  warp  her 
over  the  bar,  with  seas  sometimes  sweeping  over 
her. 

Imagine  the  experience  to  a  young  married 
woman,  wife  of  either  officer  or  private,  put  into 
the  hold  of  a  lighter,  and  battened  down  in  the 
dark.  Soon  she  rolls  and  pitches  violently  and 
the  passengers  play  at  nine-pins  with  each  other 
as  they  tumble  about.  At  last  comes  quietude, 
then  a  bump  against  the  jetty  ;  off  hatches,  and 
there  bursts  on  their  astonished  gaze  the  truculent 
Zulu,   or    the  hardy   Kafir,    or    quaintly    formed 

185 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

Hottentot,  alike  guiltless  of  much  drapery,  and 
forming  a  picture  startling  to  the  fair  exile. 

I  went  in  on  deck  to  see  it,  and  came  out  in 
the  lifeboat  as  no  ordinary  boat  could  look  at  it. 
But  all  is  now,  I  am  told,  changed  by  the  building 
of  breakwaters.  A  rocky  bottom  is  the  worst 
for  anchoring ;  one  of  my  anchors  was  broken 
in  half  in  its  shank  on  weighing,  because  it 
was  (unknown  to  us  of  course)  jammed  under 
a  rock. 

I  spent  twenty-four  hours  in  a  strong  north- 
west gale  off  Cape  Agulhas  on  this  voyage,  which 
quite  resembled  the  gale  I  was  also  in  there  in 
1858  in  H.M.S.  Pique,  and  it  was  curious  to  see 
how  much  less  serious  such  a  thing  was  to  the 
modern  ship,  both  larger  and  a  steamer,  than  to 
the  old  sailing  frigate. 

In  an  excellent  little  book  on  seamanship  by 
Captain  Liardet,  written  more  than  half  a  century 
ago,  he  tells  you  not  to  disbelieve  old  sailors'  stories 
of  fearful  storms  seemingly  much  worse  than 
anything  known  now,  and  that  in  fact  it  only 
means  they  seemed  so,  because  ships  were  smaller 
and  in  many  ways  more  helpless. 

We  took  home  the  32nd  Regiment,  commanded 
by  Col.  Hon.  R.  de  Montmorency,  a  pleasant  com- 
panion, and  a  keen  soldier,  with  his  regiment  in 
very  good  order.  At  Ascension  Island  I  visited 
what  is  called  'Wide-awake  fair,'  it  then  being  its 
season,  which  is  when  myriads  of  sea  birds 
called  *  Wide-awakes '  come  for  their  nesting 
season ;  their  noise  is  surprising,  and  thousands  of 
eggs  are  taken  and  preserved  for  eating.   Ascension 

186 


VISIT  TO  THE  WRECK  OF   THE   EUR2^DICE 

turtle  are  some  of  the  best  in  the  world.  The 
females  only  land  for  a  few  weeks  ending  in  June, 
to  lay  their  eggs,  and  then  re-enter  the  sea.  They 
lay  from  230  to  250  eggs  at  a  time,  and  bury  them 
in  the  sand  ;  in  about  five  weeks  the  sun  hatches 
them,  when  they  at  once  take  to  the  sea,  and  the 
males,  I  believe,  never  land  again.  It  is  supposed 
that  they  take  seven  years  to  grow  up,  and  live 
probably  for  half  a  century  or  more. 

After  arriving  in  England,  my  ship  was  em- 
ployed on  home  service  till  June  1878,  when  we 
went  to  Malta  to  join  in  the  occupation  of  Cyprus. 

This  memoir  is  not  meant  to  describe  my  life 
and  doings  on  shore  in  England,  as  however  in- 
teresting to  me  I  cannot  suppose  they  are  so  to  the 
public,  and  my  life  was  probably  like  most  others 
of  my  age  and  position. 

While  at  Portsmouth  I  used  when  able  to  visit 
the  wreck  of  the  Eiirydice  ^  off  Dunnose,  where  the 
operation  of  raising  the  ship  was  going  on.  Her 
Captain,  Marcus  Hare,  was  an  old  messmate  of 
mine  in  the  Chesapeake  in  China,  a  good  sailor,  and 
a  careful  officer,  one  of  the  last  I  should  have 
expected  such  a  mishap  to  befall. 

It  occurred  about  four  o'clock  on  a  Sunday 
afternoon  ;  she  was  a  26-gun  sailing  frigate  con- 
verted into  a  training  ship  for  young  seamen, 
and  was  on  her  way  home  from  the  West  Indies. 

Some  years  after  when  on  half-pay  I  took  a 
passage  home  in  a  New  Zealand  frozen-meat  ship, 
and  her  captain  told  me  he  was  mate  of  a  sailing 
ship  running  up  Channel  with  the  Eiirydice  in 

'  Lost  on  the  24th  March  1878,  and  only  two  seamen  saved. 

187 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

company.  That  off  St.  Catherine  Point  the  latter 
ship  hauled  her  wind  for  Spithead  and  thus 
closed  the  land.  That  his  ship  running  for  the 
Thames  was  off  shore  and  saw  the  fatal  squall 
coming  down  over  the  high  cliffs  near  Dunnose, 
and  shortened  sail  as  quickty  as  possible,  while 
the  Eurydice  not  seeing  the  squall  so  soon  on 
account  of  the  land  carried  on  her  sail.  My 
informant  said  the  squall  soon  hid  the  frigate  and 
they  wondered  what  became  of  her. 

What  happened  we  know :  the  squall  struck 
her  and  she  did  not  capsize,  but  sailed  to  the 
bottom  !  Her  main  deck  ports  were  open,  she 
heeled  over  a  good  deal  and  water  came  in,  especi- 
ally at  the  lee  bridle  port,  her  bow  depressed  more 
and  more  and  she  dived  to  the  bottom — one  proof 
of  this  is  that  her  fore  foot  was  knocked  off  by  the 
force  with  which  it  struck  the  ground,  and  her 
top-gallant  masts  remained  out  of  water. 

To  the  modern  eye  she  would  have  looked  too 
heavily  rigged,  but  her  spars  were  the  same  size 
as  when  she  was  a  new  ship  ;  but  what  was 
changed  was,  that  much  of  her  standing  rigging 
was  of  wire  instead  of  hemp.  This  perhaps  greatly 
caused  the  mischief — the  wire  held  on  and  the 
upper  masts  did  not  give  way,  as  has  often  in 
former  times  happened  on  such  occasions. 

The  so-called  '  salving  '  of  the  Eurydice,  that 
is  raising  her  wreck,  took  many  months  and  cost 
much  money.  To  have  blown  her  hull  to  pieces 
where  she  lay  would,  of  course,  have  been  the 
practical  thing  to  do ;  but  probably  sentiment,  on 
account   of  the  great   number  of  human  bodies 

i88 


THE  ISLAND  OF  CYPRUS 

inside  her,  forbade  this.  Finally  she  was  raised, 
and  beached  in  St.  Helens  Roads  near  Bembridge, 
and  afterwards  put  into  dock  at  Portsmouth,  and 
broken  up.  As  the  Master-attendant  of  that  yard 
said  to  me  :  '  We  have  learnt  one  thing  by  the 
above,  and  that  is  that  it  does  not  pay  to  raise 
a  ship.'  *A  sea  change,'  indeed,  but  not  'into 
something  rich  and  strange.'  I  think  Ariel 
cannot  have  visited  the  *  half-regained  '  Eurydice 
at  St.  Helens. 

I  visited  her  at  St.  Helens,  a  gruesome  sight 
below,  and  better  not  described.  It  was  curious 
how,  though  she  lay  in  what  seemed  clear  water, 
the  insides  of  her  most  tightly  closed  drawers  and 
lockers  had  much  black  mud  in  them. 

About  this  time  our  Government  decided  to 
occupy  the  Island  of  Cyprus,  with  what  special 
object  I  cannot  say  ;  perhaps  in  memory  of  its 
long  departed  importance.  But  whenever  I  con- 
sider the  matter  I  am  reminded  of  the  delightful 
picture  of  'The  Dog  in  the  Manger,'  by  Mr. 
Walter  Hunt,  in  the  Tate  Gallery,  as  it  seems  to 
me  easier  to  guess  what  other  nation  might  like  to 
possess  the  island  than  to  see  what  actual  great 
value  it  is  to  us.  I  am,  however,  far  from  con- 
demning the  policy  that  induced  us  to  occupy  it 
even  for  reasons  germane  to  the  above,  and  indeed 
I  know  personally  another  island  smaller  than 
Cyprus  and  nearer  to  England  which  I  think  might 
well  have  remained  ours  for  not  unlike  reasons. 

We  next  went  to  the  Mediterranean;  on  nth 
July  arrived  at  Malta  and  began  embarking  Indian 
troops  and  horses  for  Cyprus.    This  bringing  of  our 

189 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

Indian  troops  to  European  waters  gave  rise  to  the 
music-hall  ditty, 

We  don't  want  to  fight,  and  by  jingo  if  wc  do 

We  won't  go  ourselves  but  we'll  send  the  mild  Hindoo. 

Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  came  out  to  command  the 
Army,  and  Lord  John  Hay,  Admiral  of  the  Channel 
Fleet,  commanded  the  squadron  at  Cyprus. 

The  general  ignorance  in  England  about  Cyprus 
was  I  believe  great,  as  Punch  said  there  was  a 
general  idea  that  from  the  reign  of  Venus  it  passed 
to  the  Venetians,  when  Othello  as  Governor 
smothered  Desdemona,  and  that  was  about  all. 
Indeed  the  great  Lord  Beaconsfield,  in  spite  of 
Admiralty  surveys,  I  believe  said  that  they  hoped 
a  good  harbour  in  Cyprus  might  yet  be  found, 
much  as  they  might  hope  to  dig  up  a  statue  of 
Venus. 

As  Macaulay  says,  every  schoolboy  knows 
that  in  Cyprus  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  married  the 
Princess  Berengaria  of  Navarre.  No  doubt  many 
Crusaders  have  been  there,  and  at  our  occupation 
many  pieces  of  old  armour  were  found,  which  had 
probably  been  worn  in  the  Holy  Land.  Some 
young  men  from  England  in  search  of  El  Dorado 
arrived  at  Larnaka  soon  after  we  did,  but  I 
fear  regained  their  native  land  richer  only  in 
experience. 

In  fact  a  good  harbour  is  the  chief  want  in 
Cyprus.  The  best  natural  anchorage  is  perhaps 
Larnaka,  where  the  ships  anchored,  and  the 
troops  were  landed.  The  old  port  is  Farmagousta, 
which  possessed  a  shelter  for  Venetian  galleys  and 

190 


SIR  GARNET  WOLSELEY 

like  craft,  but  to  make  real  shelter  there  for 
modern  ships  would  be  a  costly  business. 

On  22nd  July  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  was  sworn 
in  as  Lord  High  Commissioner  of  the  island,  with 
addresses  in  Greek,  English,  and  Turkish,  and  a 
salute  of  21  guns  to  our  flag.  The  landing  was 
excellently  arranged,  conducted,  and  completed, 
and  it  was  rather  curious  that  this,  the  most  per- 
manent and  important  result  of  the  war  between 
Russia  and  Turkey,  as  regards  the  Mediterranean, 
was  conducted  as  to  the  Navy  by  Lord  John  Hay, 
then  commanding  the  Channel  Fleet;  the  Medi- 
terranean Admiral,  Sir  Geoffrey  Hornby,  being 
up  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  near  Constantinople. 

I  would  back  Cyprus  for  dry  thirsty  heat  against 
most  places,  and  within  a  few  weeks  of  our  landing 
it  proved  unhealthy  to  many  soldiers.  When  we 
were  there  the  thermometer  ranged  from  about 
117°  in  a  tent  by  day  to  60°  at  night.  A 
cool  night's  rest  is,  of  course,  a  great  thing,  but 
the  above  changes  in  camp  life  under  canvas  often 
produce  severe  chills  and  illness. 

The  island  generally  lacks  trees,  which  I  believe 
were  far  more  plentiful  till  the  Turks  cut  too  many 
down.  The  sea  water  well  off  shore  was  83°  and  so 
clear  you  could  see  your  anchor  and  cable  in  13 
fathoms. 

On  28th  July  we  left  for  Malta  and  thence  to 
England.  I  had  orders  to  find  and  tow  home  a 
refractory  transport  called  the  Maraval.  She 
was  a  sailing  ship,  no  more  wanted,  but  in  pay 
till  she  got  to  her  home  port.  The  surface  current 
in  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  runs  always  into  the 

191 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

Mediterranean,  and  to  get  out  with  westerly  winds 
is  rather  difficult.  Twice  the  above  ship  had  been 
towed  out  by  tugs,  and  twice  returned  to  eastward 
of  the  Rock,  apparently  quite  happy  thus  to  '  do 
time.'  I  found  her,  put  men  on  board,  and  towed 
her  as  required. 

In  September  I  again  went  out  to  Cyprus, 
arriving  in  October.  I  rode  up  to  Nicosia,  the 
capital,  and  stayed  with  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  at 
his  headquarters  near  there,  about  twenty-six 
miles  in  all.  Sir  Garnet  and  his  staff  formed  a 
most  agreeable  society  and  one  at  once  felt  at 
home  with  them.  I  think  no  one  who  has  ever 
really  known  the  present  Viscount  Wolseley  will 
differ  from  me  in  my  opinion  of  his  charm  of 
manner. 

A  Cyprus  mule,  however,  is  a  beast  indeed  to 
ride  on,  no  paces,  and  the  saddle  a  veritable 
'  little  ease ' ;  the  animal  has  an  armour  belt  round 
it  and  is  further  protected  with  cloths,  rendering 
it  impervious  either  to  whip  or  spur,  of  which  fact 
it  seems  by  its  paces  to  be  perfectly  cognisant. 

After  being  roasted  all  day,  one  cannot  heap 
too  many  blankets  on  oneself  at  night  in  a  tent. 

Lord  Gifford  of  the  staff  kindly  lent  me  his 
horse,  a  very  good  one,  to  ride  back  on,  a  favour 
I  have  never  forgotten.  The  two  great  curses  of 
Cyprus  have  been  drought  and  swarms  of  locusts. 
It  is  curious  to  see  a  cloud  of  these  insects  in  the 
air  before  they  decide  to  alight,  as  they  do  in  a 
numerous  compact  army.  Some  say  the  island's 
name  is  from  kupros — copper — which  was  got 
here.     The  importance  of  Cyprus  in  olden  days 

192 


TOWING  A  WATER-LOGGED  CRAFT 

seems  hard  to  realise  now.  A  Turkish  prisoner 
from  the  battle  of  Lepanto  (1571)  comparing  the 
loss  of  Cyprus  to  the  Venetians,  and  the  above 
defeat  as  concerned  the  Sultan,  said,  *  The  latter 
is  to  the  Sultan  but  as  the  loss  of  his  beard  which 
will  grow  again,  the  former  is  to  Venice  as  the 
loss  of  an  arm  which  can  never  be  recovered.' 
However,  Bacon  was  right  when  he  said  that 
*  Lepanto  arrested  the  greatness  of  the  Turk.' 

At  Larnaka  in  October  we  embarked  the  loist 
Regiment  for  passage  to  Halifax.  This  regiment 
since  their  arrival  in  Cyprus  had  become  very 
sickly,  and  it  was  advisable  to  move  them  to  a 
more  healthy  place.  They  were  commanded  by 
Colonel  de  la  Fosse,  who  was  one  of  the  only 
three  survivors  of  the  massacre  of  Cawnpore.  I 
became  very  good  friends  with  him,  but  as  his 
officers  told  me,  he  would  never  talk  about  Cawn- 
pore, so  painful  was  the  impression  of  it  left  on 
his  mind. 

On  our  way  across  the  Atlantic  we  sighted  a 
deserted  water-logged  vessel,  which  I  closed  and 
boarded.  She  proved  to  be  the  Fix,  a  brigantine 
loaded  with  paraffin  oil.  No  boats  left,  and  no 
record  was  to  be  found  on  board.  I  never  heard 
what  became  of  her  crew.  I  took  her  in  tow  with 
much  trouble,  but  bad  weather  coming  on  next 
day  had  to  abandon  her.  It  was  my  only  experi- 
ence of  towing  a  water-logged  ship,  with  the 
sea  at  times  washing  over  her,  and  no  means  of 
steering  her.  These  derelict  vessels  are,  of  course, 
dangers  to  others  on  dark  nights,  and  had  I  been 
in  an  ordinary  man-of-war  I  might  have  stayed 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

and  tried  to  destroy  her.  Her  cargo,  of  course, 
kept  her  afloat. 

We  called  at  Bermuda,  or  rather  the  Bermudas, 
for  there  are  said  to  be  three  hundred  of  them  ; 
there  are  nine  chief  ones,  most  of  the  rest  being 
mere  rocks.  The  anchorage  is  good,  well  sheltered 
and  safe,  except  in  hurricanes  which  come  at 
times  and  of  which  they  say  :  '  August  prepare, 
September  beware,  October  all  over.' 

The  islands  are  very  fertile  ;  the  natural  rock 
is  so  porous  that  a  strong  dock  cannot  be  made 
of  it.  This  is  why  we  had  to  send  out  a  floating 
dock  to  take  our  ships  for  repairs ;  when  I  was  there 
they  were  repairing  and  cleaning  the  dock,  and 
in  doing  so  took  170  tons  of  iron  rust  out  of  it. 
A  new  one  has  since  gone  out  there.  There  are 
caves  with  the  sea  water  so  clear — though  there 
was  good  light— that  you  did  not  notice  water 
was  there,  and  I  have  been  deceived  and  walked 
right  into  it. 

It  is  said  that  a  solid  space  of  6  miles  by  4 
would  contain  all  the  Bermudas,  equalling  about 
15,000  acres  in  extent.  There  is  a  small  island 
or  rock  off  Ireland  Island  (which  has  the  dock- 
yard on  it),  and  on  this  small  rock  is  a  cross  cut, 
one  arm  of  which  is  supposed  to  point  to  a  treasure 
hidden  by  the  Spanish  in  1620,  but  no  one  knows 
which  arm  it  is  ! 

The  Bermudas  must  always  possess  a  charm 
as  the  islands  *  where  Ariel  has  warbled  and 
Waller  has  strayed,'  and  their  soft  climate  cer- 
tainly lends  itself  to  such  roaming  '  along  that 
wild  and  lonely  shore,'  as  the  poet  warns  '  sweet 

194 


TRANSPORT  DUTIES 

Nea  '  not  to  indulge  in.  The  channel  to  enter 
by  is  long  and  winding  and  is  thus  a  great  defence, 
but  the  long-range  modern  guns  would  deal  havoc 
from  outside. 

At  Halifax  we  landed  the  loist  Regiment  and 
embarked  the  ist  Battalion  of  the  20th  Regiment, 
for  Cyprus.  On  my  way  I  passed  through  the 
Azores  Islands — the  name  means  Isle  of  Hawks. 
They  are  mostly  volcanic,  and  are  said  to  have 
had  no  animal  life  on  them  when  discovered 
in  the  fifteenth  century.  Eruptions  and  earth- 
quakes still  sometimes  occur. 

At  Cyprus  we  landed  the  20th,  and  embarked 
the  71st  Highland  Light  Infantry,  a  regiment  I 
had  long  known  and  much  liked.  I  landed  them 
at  Gibraltar,  and  we  lay  there  some  days. 

I  have  hunted  at  various  times  with  the 
Calpe  hounds — in  those  days  always  managed 
by  military  officers  quartered  at  the  Rock.  It 
is  said  those  hounds  were  first  instituted  by  naval 
men.  The  country  is  so  hilly  and  covered  with 
rocks,  cistus  and  other  bushes  that  it  looks  at 
first  unrideable  at  high  speed. 

We  embarked  the  ist  Battalion  of  the  4th 
Regiment  for  the  West  Indies,  and  went  first 
to  Barbados.  This  is  probably  the  healthiest 
of  the  West  India  Islands,  but  by  no  means  the 
most  beautiful — far  from  it.  The  rainfall  of  the 
year  is  usually  sixty  inches,  but  I  am  assured  that 
twenty  inches  have  fallen  in  twenty-four  hours. 

We  went  next  to  Trinidad  off  the  mouth  of 
the  Orinoco  River.  The  Governor's  house  at  Port 
of  Spain  is  in  the  most  beautiful  tropical  garden ; 

195  02 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

coffee,  tea,  and  cocoa  grow  in  it.  Here  one 
thinks  of  Columbus  the  Discoverer,  and  of  Raleigh's 
last  sad  expedition  to  the  Orinoco.  The  pitch 
lake  of  Trinidad  is  much  noted  ;  it  covers  ninety- 
nine  acres. 

From  Trinidad  we  went  to  Port  Royal, 
Jamaica,  and  landed  the  headquarters  of  the 
regiment,  detachments  being  left  at  the  other 
islands.  The  great  earthquake  that  sank  old 
Port  Royal  under  the  sea  was  in  1692.  In  many 
cases  the  earth  then  opened  and  people  were 
swallowed  in  the  crevices  of  it. 

Jamaica  is  nearly  all  hills  and  valleys.  When 
Queen  Isabella  asked  Columbus  what  the  island 
was  like,  he  is  said  to  have  crumpled  up  a  bit 
of  paper  in  his  hand,  put  the  paper  on  the  table 
and  said,  '  Your  Majesty,  Jamaica  is  Hke  that.' 
The  chief  military  quarters  are  at  Up  Park  Camp, 
near  Port  Royal;  but  there  are  barracks  in  the 
Blue  Mountains  which  are  healthy  and  have  a 
splendid  view. 

From  Jamaica  I  went  to  Malta  with  troops, 
and  from  thence  to  England.  From  Malta  I 
brought  home  the  main  part  of  the  ship's  com- 
pany of  H.M.S.  Thunderer,  on  board  which  ship  the 
terrible  explosion  of  the  38-ton  muzzle-loading 
gun  had  lately  occurred  in  her  foremost  turret. 
Both  turret  guns  were  being  fired  simultaneously, 
but  evidently  one  did  not  go  off.  It  may  seem 
hard  to  believe  such  a  thing  could  happen  and 
not  be  noticed,  but  from  my  own  experience  I 
understand  it.  The  men  in  the  turret  often 
stopped  their  ears,  and  perhaps  shut  their  eyes, 

196 


REFLECTIONS   ON   TROOP   SERVICE 

at  the  moment  of  firing,  and  then  instantly  worked 
the  run-in  levers,  and  did  not  notice  how  much 
the  guns  had  recoiled.  This  no  doubt  occurred. 
Both  guns  were  then  at  once  reloaded,  and  the 
rammer's  indicator,  working  by  machinery,  set 
fast  and  failed  to  show  how  far  home  the  new 
charge  had  gone.  This,  too,  may  seem  unlikely, 
but  no  doubt  it  happened ;  and  the  gun  on  being 
then  fired  burst,  killing  two  officers  and  several 
men,  and  wrecking  the  turret.  Experiments  made 
with  a  similar  gun  double-loaded  burst  it  in  exactly 
the  same  way. 

On  25th  March  1879  I  ^^^  relieved  in  com- 
mand of  the  Orontes,  having  been  in  her  over 
three  years.  During  that  time  the  ship  had  run 
about  98,000  miles,  and  carried  of  troops — 849 
military  officers,  over  30,000  N.C.O.'s  and  privates, 
and  with  wives  and  children  nearly  38,000  per- 
sons in  all. 

It  is  most  important  to  our  nation  above  all 
others  that  good  fellowship,  and  a  sort  of  brother- 
hood feeling,  should  exist  between  our  two  services, 
and  if  the  Troop  Service  contributed  at  all  to 
that  it  was  an  extra  reason  for  it  ;  trooping  is 
not  proper  naval  work,  but  it  gave  me  very 
valuable  experience  in  handling  a  ship  under 
many  circumstances,  showed  me  many  ports 
and  coasts,  and  added  enormously  to  my  know- 
ledge  of   human   nature. 

I  will  only  add  that  invariably  the  military 
officers  embarked  treated  me  with  the  greatest 
consideration,  and  I  had  practically  no  trouble 
with  the  fair  sex  entrusted  to  my  care. 

197 


CHAPTER  XVI 

CAPTAIN 
Torpedo  Course — Law  Courts — Touraine — Winter  in  France. 

I  WAS  now  on  half-pay  again,  so  applied  to  join 
the  torpedo  course  at  Portsmouth,  which  was 
granted.  In  these  liberal  days  I  believe  officers 
are  put  on  full  pay  for  College,  gunnery,  torpedo, 
or  other  courses,  but  formerly  our  zeal  was  con- 
sidered to  be  enough  inducement.  We  had  a 
'  cabin  '  in  the  old  Naval  College  in  the  dockyard 
(if  there  was  room)  and  could  join  the  mess  there. 
The  course  lasted  over  two  months. 

I  then  went  abroad  for  a  short  time,  but  mostly 
spent  the  summer  in  England,  where  it  was  about 
the  wettest  one  I  ever  knew. 

Sometimes  I  attended  the  assizes  of  the  Oxford 
Circuit  at  Worcester,  the  Judge  being  kind  and 
giving  me  a  seat  by  him.  I  valued  this  experience 
to  help  me  to  deal  with  offenders  at  courts-martial, 
and  otherwise  to  hear  how  trials  are  conducted  on 
shore. 

A  Barrister  in  Court  and  an  M.P.  in  Parliament 
are,  I  believe,  privileged  and  say  what  they  like 
about  other  people.     If  so,  I  think  it  wrong ;  but 

198 


REMINISCENCES   OF   WORCESTER   ASSIZES 

however  that  may  be,  I  remember  on  one  occasion, 
Mr.  Huddleston,  who  could  be  very  bitter  when 
he  liked,  took  the  line  of  abusing  the  solicitor  on 
the  other  side  ;  which  I  am  told  is  the  regular  thing 
to  do  when  you  feel  your  case  a  bad  one.  At  all 
events  he  did  so  in  no  measured  terms  ;    till  at 

last  the  abused  attorney,  a  Mr.  O of  Stratford- 

on-Avon,  having  got  very  red  and  angry,  at  last 
got  on  his  legs  and  said  to  the  Judge :  *  My  Lord, 
I  must  demand  your  protection  from  these  libels 
on  me.'     The   Judge   very  calmly  replied  :    *  Sit 

down,  Mr.  O ,  sit  down  ;  no  one  thinks  at  all  the 

worse  of  you  for  what  the  learned  counsel  says ! ' 

I  fear  I  formed  a  generally  low  impression  of 
the  jury's  intelligence,  and  felt  that  if  I  were 
guilty  I  should  like  to  be  tried  with  a  jury,  if 
innocent  only  with  a  judge. 

I  remember  one  case  of  two  men  tried  for  highway 
robbery  with  violence  ;  the  jury  found  a  verdict  of 
guilty  of  one  charge  without  the  other.  The  Judge 
told  them  it  must  be  guilty,  or  not  guilty,  of  both. 
The  jury  consulted  a  very  short  time,  and  then  said 
'Not  Guilty,'  and  this  verdict  was  about  to  be 
recorded  when  it  became  evident  that  all  the 
twelve  did  not  agree,  one  onl}^  holding  out  for  Guilty. 

The  Judge  remarked  that  he  would  have  them 
locked  up  as  required  to  debate,  but  after  some 
sharp  arguments  in  the  jury-box  for  a  very  few 
minutes  they  unanimously  gave  a  verdict  of 
'Guilty.' 

The  opinion  of  England  generally  is  no  doubt 
for  a  jury,  and  I  suppose  on  the  whole  it  is  right. 
I  have  also  heard  it  argued  in  favour  of  a  jury  that 

199 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

especially  in  cases  involving  the  capital  sentence, 
a  single  man  (the  Judge)  might  well  hesitate  to 
convict,  especially  on  only  circumstantial  evidence 
— though  he  believed  the  prisoner  guilty — when  a 
combination  of  men  not  singly  responsible  would 
not  mind  doing  so. 

I  heard  another  case  that  was  singular,  and  a 
proof  to  me  of  the  great  power  an  English  judge 
has.  It  was  Lord  Brampton  (then  Hawkins)  on 
the  Bench.  The  case  that  of  a  young  man  who, 
having  had  a  natural  child  sworn  against  him  by 
his  sweetheart  (the  mother)  in  a  fit  of  anger  tried 
to  cut  her  throat.  For  this  he  was  tried  and  found 
guilty.  The  Judge  then  said  :  '  I  shall  reserve  my 
sentence  till  to-morrow.' 

Next  day  the  Court  was  crowded.  The  prisoner 
was  put  in  the  dock  and  the  young  woman  in  the 
witness-box,  when  the  Judge  said  to  the  prisoner : 
*  Would  you  marry  that  young  woman  if  you 
could  ?  '  The  reply  was:  '  Yes,  my  Lord.'  The 
Judge  then  asked  the  young  woman  if  she  was 
ready  to  marry  the  man,  and  was  not  afraid 
of  him.  She  said,  Yes,  she  was  quite  ready  to. 
The  Judge  then  said :  '  Prisoner  at  the  bar,  you  are 
for  the  time  discharged,  if  you  promise  to  marry 
your  sweetheart  to-morrow  morning,  and  do  so  ; 
but  if  within  a  year  your  conduct  to  her  is  improper 
you  will  be  arrested,  and  sentenced,  for  the  crime 
of  which  you  have  been  convicted.'  The  audience 
were  dehghted  as  may  be  supposed,  and  their  loud 
cheers  had  to  be  suppressed. 

As  I  have  said,  I  do  not  mean  to  inflict  on  my 
readers  (if  I  have  any)  long  details  of  my  life  on 

200 


WINTERING  IN   FRANCE 

shore,  but  shall  only  occasionally  refer  to  them.  In 
the  early  autumn  I  stayed  some  time  in  Ireland. 
The  contrast  between  it  and  England  is  certainly 
great.  I  have  often  been  there,  and  to  many 
parts  of  it,  and  believe  I  should,  if  a  landed  pro- 
prietor, dehght  in  the  people,  till  they  boycotted 
or  shot  me.  But  as  for  governing  the  country 
satisfactorily,   I   believe  it  is  impossible. 

Had  Cromwell  reigned  as  long  as  George  III, 
Ireland  would  have  been  reduced  to  quietude,  but 
not  by  kindness. 

That  autumn  I  spent  at  Azay-sur-Cher  near 
Tours.  At  the  Chateau  de  Nitray,  a  Francois 
Premier  house  near  us,  was  a  family  whose  ancestor 
was  one  of  Napoleon's  generals  and  thus  became 
enriched  ;  they  were  of  course  strong  Bonapartists, 
and  arguments  with  the  young  ladies  on  the  cruel 
way  in  which  we  treated  the  great  ex-Emperor 
were  good  practice  for  my  French. 

My  experience  of  real  French  ladies  and 
gentlemen  has  been  that  they  are  usually  either 
Royalists  or  Bonapartists,  and  very  rarely  Re- 
publican in  their  sentiments  and  wishes.  The 
then  owner  of  Nitray  was  grandson  to  the 
above-mentioned  General,  and  told  me  his  grand- 
father was  Governor  of  Stettin  for  eight  years, 
during  which  he  made  his  fortune. 

Living  with  a  cure  to  improve  my  French,  I 
have  several  times  since  stayed  in  Touraine,  and 
can  recommend  it  strongly.  Its  natural  beauties, 
numerous  very  fine  old  historical  chateaux,  and 
good  roads  and  railways  for  locomotion,  make 
it  a  most  desirable  place  for  a  sojourn. 

201 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

In  summer  it  is  often  hot,  and  in  winter  it  can 
be  very  cold.  When  I  was  there  in  1879  the  thermo- 
meter in  December  went  down  to  15  degrees 
below  zero  of  Fahrenheit,  i.e.  47  degrees  of  frost, 
the  River  Cher,  about  the  size  of  the  Thames  at 
Windsor,  was  not  only  frozen,  but  owing  to  its 
current  the  blocks  of  ice  were  heaped  one  on  top 
of  the  other,  like  ice  floes  in  the  Arctic  regions, 
and  the  river  was  frozen  nearly  to  the  bottom. 

The  French  began  by  saying,  *  It  is  as  cold  as 
the  year  of  our  unhappy  war  '  (1870)  ;  next,  '  It  is 
as  cold  as  1812 ' ;  then,  '  It  is  as  cold  as  in  1789  ' ; 
and  finally,  '  We  don't  know  when  it  was  so  cold 
before.'  In  my  bedroom  I  had  to  wash  as  soon 
as  the  water  was  poured  out  or  else  it  became 
ice.  This  is  no  doubt  exceptional  for  the  middle 
of  France. 

I  am  a  strong  advocate  for  naval  officers 
knowing  some  foreign  languages.  Tardily — but 
at  last — the  Admiralty  have  awoke  to  the  necessity. 
But  I  should  make  a  rule  that  no  boy  might  become 
a  naval  cadet  unless  he  could  hold  an  ordinary 
conversation  in  at  least  one  foreign  tongue. 

I  consider  the  worst  linguists,  as  naval  officers, 
are  those  of  the  United  States  Navy,  and  after 
them  it  is  a  toss-up  between  us  and  the  French,  but 
they  at  least  have  the  excuse  that  their  language 
is  that  of  diplomacy.  On  the  other  hand  I  con- 
sider the  Austrians  to  be  the  best  naval  linguists 
I  know. 

Foreign  languages  are  really  more  necessary 
to  a  sailor  than  to  a  soldier,  because  the  latter  is 
seldom  or  never  officially  brought  into  contact 

202 


REORGANISATION  OF  TROOPSHIP  SERVICE 

with  foreign  troops — unless  it  be  in  a  war  alliance 
on  actual  service  in  the  field. 

But  men  of  war  constantly  meet  others  of  many 
nations  in  peace  time,  and  occasions  of  combined 
operations  on  shore  to  meet  sudden  and  unexpected 
emergencies  have  at  various  times  arisen. 

On  my  way  home  I  stayed  in  Paris  and  walked 
over  the  Seine  there  on  the  ice,  which  is  rarely 
possible.  The  snow  was  very  plentiful,  and  I 
was  told  a  million  francs  had  been  spent  in  clearing 
it  away.  Sleighs  were  plentiful  in  the  streets. 
It  was  said  in  the  Times  of  29th  December  1879, 
that  in  Paris  on  the  9th  40  degrees  of  frost  by 
Fahrenheit,  i.e.  8  degrees  below  zero, were  registered, 
and  that  it  certainly  was  the  coldest  on  record  then. 

In  the  spring  of  1880  I  served  on  a  combined 
naval  and  military  committee  to  review  the 
troopship  instructions,  which  had  become  out  of 
date.  In  truth  a  good  deal  of  arrangement  and 
mutual  consideration  was  necessar}"  to  provide 
for  all  the  complications  attending  misconduct  of 
soldiers  when  embarked  in  a  man-of-war,  i.e.  a 
ship  flying  the  actual  naval  pennant. 


203 


CHAPTER  XVII 

H.M.S.  IRIS 

Loss  of  Atalanta  —  Trial  Cruise  —  Palermo  —  Russian  Torpedo 
Boat  —  Messina  —  Adriatic  —  Ionian  Islands  —  Olympia  — 
Paestum — Egypt — Trieste — Tunis — French  Ships — Syria — 
Roustem  Pasha  and  the  Bear — 18S2  War  in  Egypt. 

In  April  1880  I  commissioned  the  Iris  at  Ports- 
mouth. She  was  the  first  ship  in  the  Navy  built 
of  steel,  also  the  first  ship  of  war  that  could  steam 
18  knots,  and  her  hull  and  lines  were  beautiful. 
Not  a  straight  Ime  about  her  !  Her  lines  were 
decided  by  experiments  made  by  Professor  Froude 
with  paraffin  models  in  a  tank  ;  and  below  water 
in  shape  she  much  resembled  a  fish,  carrying  her 
beam  well  forward,  and  tapering  off  to  the  stern. 
She  carried  fourteen  8-inch  guns,  all  on  pivot 
carriages,  had  Whitehead  torpedo-tubes,  and  was 
designed  to  carry  torpedo-boats. 

In  the  spring  of  1880  the  Atalanta,  a  26-gun 
sailing  frigate,  almost  sister  ship  to  the  late  Eury- 
dice,  was  lost — no  one  knows  how — in  the  Atlantic 
on  her  way  home  from  Bermuda.  Her  Captain, 
F.  Stirling,  was  a  charming  man  and  first-rate 
officer.  He  and  his  wife  were  great  friends  of 
mine.     She  would  not  believe  the  ship  was  lost, 

204 


MALTA  AND   PALERMO 

and  asked  me  to  come  and  see  her,  and  made  me 
promise  to  try  to  get  the  Admiralty  to  send  my 
ship  to  look  for  her  husband.  It  was  a  very  sad 
episode,  and  very  curious  its  following  on  the 
Eur  y  dice. 

We  went  out  for  a  trial  cruise  in  the  Channel, 
and  one  day  under  sail  only  carried  away  our 
foremast — the  first  time  I  ever  saw  such  a  thing 
happen.  The  truth  is  the  mast  was  a  single  spar 
of  wood,  and  had  a  flaw  in  it ;  a  steel  mast  was 
substituted. 

In  July  we  left  for  the  Mediterranean  to  join 
our  Fleet,  then  under  the  command  of  Vice- 
Admiral  Sir  Beauchamp  Seymour,  afterwards 
Lord  Alcester.  We  reached  Malta  at  the  height  of 
summer,  and  found  the  ship  very  hot,  and  no 
wonder  ;  for  comfort,  of  course,  give  me  a  wooden 
ship.  Steel  vessels  are  like  tin  kettles,  the  heat 
or  the  cold  is  through  them  at  once,  unless  they 
are  very  thickly  lined  with  wood. 

From  Malta  we  joined  the  Commander-in-Chief 
and  squadron  at  Palermo.  The  ships  were  not 
numerous,  but  all  were  quite  different  in  design, 
armament,  and  size.  The  French  in  those  days 
had  much  more  uniformity  in  ships  than  we  had. 
Our  flagship  was  the  Alexandra  and  was  the 
finest  ship  in  the  Fleet. 

Even  in  1880  brigandage  was  prevalent  in 
Sicily,  especially  near  Palermo  ;  so  much  so  that 
when  the  Bacchante  with  the  two  sons  of  our  then 
Prince  of  Wales  were  at  the  port,  and  the  Princes 
were  going  for  a  picnic  in  the  country,  the 
authorities    insisted    on    sending    a    regiment    of 

205 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

soldiers  to  guard  them,  and  begged  that  no  one 
should  go  outside  a  cordon  of  sentries  drawn  round 
their  party. 

From  Palermo  I  went  to  Messina,  then  most 
flourishing,  with  some  118,000  inhabitants.  The 
harbour  is  an  extinct,  submerged  volcano. 

In  1859,  owing  to  the  war  between  France  and 
Italy,  we  commissioned  a  great  many  ships,  and 
some  could  not  get  bands  in  England. 

The  London,  a  two-decker,  went  out  with  none, 
and  being  at  Messina  a  man  came  aboard  and  asked 
if  they  wanted  a  band.  On  hearing  they  did  he 
said  :  '  I  am  bandmaster  of  an  Italian  regiment, 
and  we  have  all  deserted  with  our  instruments, 
and  should  like  to  join  ' ;  which  they  did,  fiddles 
and  all.  The  Prelet  here  told  me  he  was  im- 
prisoned by  Bomba  for  ten  years  for  political 
matters  and  occupied  himself  in  translating  Milton 
and  Byron.  Many  of  us  would  like  at  times  to  see 
SOME  of  our  politicians  thus  harmlessly  employed  ! 

While  on  this  coast  I  \'isited  Catania  and  from 
there  ascended  Mount  Etna  with  some  of  my 
officers.  We  slept  at  the  Casa  Inglese,  9652  feet 
up,  and  went  to  the  summit  (10,870  feet)  next 
morning.  It  was  in  August  and  there  was  no 
snow,  except  a  few  patches.  It  was  odd  to  sit 
on  the  side  of  the  cone  with  a  cloud  below  you, 
look  over  the  cloud  at  the  sea,  no  land  being  visible, 
and  feel  as  if,  should  you  slip  on  the  side  of  the 
cone,  which  seemed  quite  possible,  you  would  go 
into  the  sea  ! 

While  I  was  at  Messina  the  Russian  torpedo- 
boat  Baioum  arrived  from  England  on  her  way 

206 


ANECDOTE   OF   THE   RUSSO-TURKISH   WAR 

to  the  Black  Sea.  She  was  commanded  by 
Captain-Lieutenant  Zatzarenny,  who  told  me 
that  in  their  late  war  with  Turkey  he,  then  a 
lieutenant  having  charge  of  a  28-foot  steam 
cutter,  fixed  a  Whitehead  torpedo  fore  and  aft 
under  her  keel,  went  into  Batoum,  and  discharged 
the  torpedo  there  at  a  Turkish  man-of-war,  which 
then  sunk  in  five  minutes,  and  for  this  service  he 
was  promoted  and  given  command  of  this  boat, 
named  accordingly.  All  the  details  he  described, 
and  drew  a  plan  of  it.  At  the  same  time  I  had 
before  me  on  a  shelf  the  book  written  by  Lieutenant 
C.  Sleeman,  late  R.N.,  then  in  the  Turkish  Navy, 
who  described  the  above  attempt,  but  said  it 
utterly  failed.  The  two  accounts  amused  me, 
and  one  felt  inclined  to  ask,  '  What  is  truth  ?  ' 

When  I  was  at  Sevastopol  some  years  later  I 
heard  that  poor  Zatzarenny  had  there  met  with 
a  very  tragic  end. 

We  visited  several  places — one  was  Ragusa  in 
Dalmatia.  Here  is  a  very  small  island  called 
Lacroma,  where  it  is  said  our  King  Richard  I  was 
imprisoned  by  the  Austrians ;  but  as  other  places 
have  been  so  cited,  it  is  probably  doubtful  which  is 
right.  The  Cathedral  at  Lacroma  is  said  to  have 
been  endowed  by  King  Richard  to  fulfil  a  vow, 
perhaps  on  gaining  his  freedom  !  We  went  to 
Brindisi,  which  then  had  massive  walls  and  forti- 
fications, now  destroyed.  The  canal  into  the 
port  had  four  fathoms  of  water,  but  the  Consul  said 
that  fourteen  years  before  there  was  not  one 
fathom,  till  they  set  to  work  to  make  it  the  im- 
portant harbour  it  became.     The  classical  remains 

207 


MY    NAVAL   CAREER 

of  ancient  Brindisi  are  interesting,  and  the  spot  is 
shown  where  Pompey  is  said  to  have  defended 
himself  when  besieged  by  Juhus  Csesar. 

We  were,  of  course,  often  at  Malta,  which 
island,  in  the  middle  of  the  Mediterranean,  with 
its  first-rate  harbour,  seems  situated  on  purpose 
to  shelter  the  ships  of  the  Power  meant  to  be 
predominant  in  that  sea. 

The  siege  of  Malta  by  the  Turks  in  1565  is,  of 
course,  the  most  important  event  regarding  it  as 
concerns  the  world  at  large,  and  I  consider  the 
two  or  three  embrasures  low  down  between  the 
dockyard  and  French  creeks  with  much  respect, 
as  the  guns  from  them  are  said  greatly  to  have 
prevented  the  Turks  taking  that  position,  which 
would  probably  have  meant  the  fall  of  Valetta, 
and  Malta  becoming  a  Turkish  stronghold.  But 
Malta  is  far  too  well  known  for  me  to  attempt 
any  description  of  it. 

In  October  we  formed  one  of  the  Allied 
Squadron  in  the  Bocce  de  Cattaro  to  determine 
the  question  of  Dulcino.  The  ships  of  six  different 
nationalities  were  assembled  and  our  Commander- 
in-Chief  —  Sir  Beauchamp  Seymour  —  was  the 
doyen,  and  acknowledged  as  the  chief.  It  was  an 
interesting  occasion,  and  I  think  not  at  all  with- 
out diplomatic  difficulties,  which  our  Admiral,  so  far 
as  his  part  went,  was  well  fitted  to  contend  with. 

The  Gulf  of  Cattaro  consists  of  more  than  one 
spacious  anchorage  surrounded  by  lofty  hills,  and 
a  series  of  havens  leading  to  the  town  of  Cattaro, 
sheltering  under  a  lofty  and  precipitous^  hill — 
almost  a  mountain. 

208 


MONTENEGRO 

Captain  George  Tryon  ^  and  I  rode  up  to 
Cettinge,  the  capital  of  Montenegro,  to  call  on  the 
reigning  Prince — now  King  Nicholas.  The  road 
is  mostly  up  and  down  hill  and  it  took  us  seven 
good  hours  in  torrents  of  rain  ;  one  pass  was  3500 
feet  above  the  sea.  Our  uniforms,  slung  on  other 
horses,  got  so  wet  that  we  stood  as  near  as  we 
could  to  the  Palace  fires  that  evening  to  dry  them. 

Montenegro  then  was,  perhaps  still  is,  a  fascinat- 
ing country,  the  people  being  a  very  fine  race 
physically,  and  giving  you  the  impression  of 
honesty  and  open-heartedness. 

The  Royal  family — as  is  known — are  worthy 
to  govern  such  a  people.  Montenegro  was  under 
the  protection  of  Austria,  but  the  predilection  of 
Prince  Nicholas  was  evidently  for  Russia,  partly 
no  doubt  because  his  religion  and  that  of  most 
of  his  people  is  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church.  The 
Prince  talked  much  to  me  of  his  visit  to  St. 
Petersburg,  and  the  Czar,  who  had  a  great  military 
review  for  him  ;  but  what  seemed  to  have  most 
impressed  the  Prince  was  the  collection  of  stuffed 
bears  in  the  Winter  Palace,  which  had  been  shot  by 
the  Emperor.  Four  Montenegrin  Princesses  were 
then  at  school  in  Russia. 

Cettinge  is  2800  feet  above  the  sea  ;  the  Palace 
is  by  no  means  grand,  a  gentleman's  house,  no 
more — at  least  when  I  was  there.  Near  the  towii 
is  a  building,  interesting  to  visit,  containing  very 
various  weapons,  and  a  collection  of  flags  taken 
in  war,  some  from  the  Turks.  I  was  told  that 
thousands  of  Montenegrins  carried  out  the  custom 

1  Afterwards  Admiral  Sir  George  Tryon. 

209  P 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

of  making  each  other  blood  relations  by  mutually 
drinking  some  drops  of  the  other's  blood. 

The  Admiral  now  sent  me  as  senior  officer 
in  the  Ionian  Islands,  and  a  more  pleasant  duty 
I  never  had.  When  Mr.  Gladstone  decided  to 
give  up  our  occupation  of  them,  the  British  Army 
lost  one  of  their  most  agreeable  stations.  Of  the 
seven  islands  I  prefer  Corfu,  though  each  one  has 
its  advantages. 

The  climate  is  never  really  trying,  and  the  Isles 
of  Greece  almost  deserve  the  praise  that  *  Eternal 
summer  gilds  them  yet.'  When  I  was  there  in 
1880  war  was  thought  to  be  imminent  between 
Greece  and  Turkey.  In  consequence  of  this  the 
Greeks  were  mounting  troops  and  drilling  them 
in  Corfu,  a  thing  contrary  to  treaty,  as  had  to  be 
pointed  out.  That  island  and  Paxo  were  then,  and 
now  are,  under  protection  of  the  Great  Powers,  on 
condition  of  their  not  being  military  stations. 
When  I  visited  Zante,  they  sent  me  an  invitation 
to  attend  next  day,  officially,  at  a  religious  cere- 
mony. Having  found  out  it  was  not  connected 
with  the  Turkish  imbroglio,  but  an  annual  ceremony 
done  to  record  the  emancipation  of  Greece,  I 
accepted. 

We  landed  in  uniform,  cocked  hat,  &c.,  and 
I  walked  through  a  mass  of  people,  some  on  their 
knees,  all  most  polite,  bowing,  waving  handker- 
chiefs, and  saying  something.  The  Consul  who 
was  with  me  said :  '  Do  you  know  what  they  are 
saying?'  I  said:  '  No,  I  can't  understand  Greek.' 
He  replied :  '  They  are  blessing  you,  and  saying  they 
hope  the  English  are  about  to  retake  the  Islands 

210 


IONIAN  ISLES 

under  their  protection.'  I  said:  'Do  you  think 
if  a  plebiscite  was  now  taken  votes  would  be  mostly 
for  us  to  come  back  ?  '  and  he  said  :  '  They  would 
tear  in  pieces  anyone  voting  against  it.'  Such 
apparently  was  public  feeling  in  the  islands  just 
then,  in  view  of  a  possible  war  with  Turkey. 

The  old  saying  of  *  When  Greek  meets  Greek, 
then  comes  the  tug  of  war  '  hardly  seemed  to  apply 
to  the  Ionian  Islanders.  At  Santa  Maura  I 
resolved  to  satisfy  myself  about  the  so-called 
*  Sappho's  Leap.'  The  legend,  of  course,  is  that 
the  poetess  for  despairing  love  of  Phaon  threw 
herself  into  the  sea.  At  Santa  Maura  it  is  supposed 
to  have  occurred  ;  and  in  such  a  prosaic  thing  as 
the  Admiralty  Chart  you  may  see  *  Sappho's 
Leap '  marked,  but  it  is  an  impossible  place,  as  it 
slopes  back  from  the  sea.  We  found  the,  perhaps, 
real  one  about  200  feet  high,  sheer  down  to  the 
water,  and  near  it  are  the  remains  of  what  was 
probably  the  Temple  of  Apollo. 

Cephalonia  has  the  curious  feature  of  the  sea 
running  into  the  land  by  a  very  narrow  water  course 
and  disappearing  down  a  natural  hole.  It  was 
used  to  turn  a  mill  wheel ;  I  have  never  heard 
any  scientific  explanation  of  it. 

The  roads  in  that  island  are  good,  said  to  be 
greatly  due  to  the  energy  of  its  once  Governor, 
that  splendid  soldier,  General  Sir  Charles  Napier. 
Of  him  while  there  the  story  is  told  that  there 
lived  near  him  an  Ionian  nobleman  who  was  in 
the  habit  of  beating  his  wife.  One  afternoon  in 
summer,  all  windows  and  doors  being  open,  our 
General  heard  the  cries  of  the  unhappy  lady  and 

211  P2 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

unable  to  endure  such  treatment  of  a  woman,  Sir 
Charles  rushed  into  the  other  house,  and  himself 
began  to  beat  the  husband.  On  being  persuaded 
by  his  A.D.C.  to  retire  to  his  own  dwelling,  and 
there  gradually  calming  down,  the  Governor  saw 
the  enormity  he  had  been  guilty  of  towards  a 
foreign  noble,  so  sent  his  A.D.C.  over  to  say  he  was 
ready  to  give  satisfaction  b}^  a  duel.  The  noble- 
man however  replied  :  *  What  does  he  want  ?  He 
enters  my  house,  stops  me  beating  my  wife,  beats 
me,  and  now  wishes  to  kill  me.  No,  tell  him  I 
never  want  to  see  him  again.' 

From  the  top  of  the  Black  Mountain  (5218  feet 
high)  in  Cephalonia  you  can  see  the  sites  of  two 
of  the  most  important  sea  fights  of  the  world,  viz. 
Actium  and  Lepanto,  their  positions  only  a  few 
miles  apart. 

We  visited  Olympia — it  is  most  interesting ;  the 
Germans  were  at  work  excavating,  but  allowed  only 
to  make  casts,  &c.,  not  to  carry  any  antiquities 
off.  Olympia  was  first  ruined  by  an  earthquake, 
and  then  flooded  by  the  River  Alpheus,  and  gradu- 
ally buried.  The  inscriptions  on  the  bases  for  the 
statues  are  mostly  as  plain  as  when  cut,  but  the 
few  statues  that  remain,  except  one  of  Hermes,  are 
not  very  impressive. 

On  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth  I  visited  the  works 
of  Nero's  canal,  begun  but  never  finished;  it  was 
to  have  been  about  200  feet  wide  nearly  on  the 
same  line  that  the  present  canal  has  now  been 
made. 

I  visited  Schliemann's  Troy,  which  I  believe  is 
the  real    one :    it    also   fulfils    Virgil's     '  Est    in 

212 


PAESTUM 

conspectu  Tenedos,'  &c.  There  are  seemingly  the 
remains  of  four  towns  one  over  the  other,  of  which 
I  understand  the  second  from  the  bottom  to  be 
Priam's  city,  and  you  can  see  marks  of  fire  in  it, 
and  make  out  the  Scaean  Gate. 

I  must  resist  mentioning  most  of  the  places  I 
visited,  but  the  Mediterranean  is  to  my  mind  the 
most  interesting  part  of  the  world  historically, 
and  one  is  much  inclined  to  enlarge  about  it. 

If  you  want  to  get  exercise  quickly,  run  down 
the  cone  of  Vesuvius ;  we  did  so,  and  in  five  minutes 
got  so  much  violent  motion  of  arms  and  legs  that 
we  were  stiff  for  two  or  three  days. 

I  visited  Paestum,  anchoring  off  it,  and  landed 
to  see  the  three  ruined  temples  there,  which  are 
magnificent.  The  name  of  the  place  was  Posei- 
donia,  from  its  principal  temple  which  was  dedi- 
cated to  Neptune.  The  place,  once  no  doubt 
prosperous,  is  now  quite  deserted.  We  nearly 
came  to  grief  in  embarking.  The  ship  was  at 
anchor  as  near  the  shore  as  safe,  but  there  was 
no  shelter.  It  came  on  to  blow  from  seaward. 
Most  of  the  officers  who  landed  got  off  in  a  semi- 
lifeboat  we  had.  I  was  in  my  private  skilt'  with 
one  officer,  my  coxswain,  and  dog.  We  ran  her 
out  through  the  surf  and  jumped  in,  but  found  that 
the  dog  had  jumped  out,  not  liking  the  sea,  and 
swum  back  to  shore.  To  save  him,  we  returned, 
but  the  sea  had  got  up  so  much,  that  our  only  plan 
was  for  a  ship's  boat  to  anchor  outside  the  breakers 
and  a  man  to  swim  in  with  a  grass  line.  This 
we  made  fast  to  the  boat  and,  lashing  the  gear,  were 
towed   out   through   the   breakers.     Happily   no 

213 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

one  was  drowned,  though  one  officer  very  nearly 
was,  and  my  coxswain  had  to  invalid  home  in 
consequence  of  his  ducking. 

I  was  swimming  about  with  a  photograph  of 
Neptune's  Temple  in  my  pocket,  and  said  I  would 
never  again  have  believed  in  the  great  Sea  God 
if  any  of  us  had  'lost  the  number  of  our  mess,'  as 
the  sea  expression  is. 

I  then  went  to  Alexandria,  a  harbour  which 
my  ship  could  easily  enter.  Certainly  Africa, 
generally,  is  worse  off  for  good  harbours  than  any 
other  country  of  half  its  size. 

I  visited  Cairo  and  the  Pyramids,  and  corrected 
some  errors  in  Murray  about  them.  Their  fasci- 
nation must  be  confessed,  and  the  fact  that  the 
area  covered  by  '  Cheops  '  about  equals  Lincoln's 
Inn  Fields  impresses  one  with  its  massive  contents  ; 
now  everything  there  is  both  over  well  known  and 
quite  overrun  with  tourists,  so  I  will  say  no 
more  on  that  subject.  In  Cairo  already  Camp- 
bell's line — and  '  coming  events  cast  their  shadows 
before ' — was  being  foreshadowed,  and  was  justified 
the  next  year. 

The  Iris  was,  as  I  have  said,  the  first  steel  ship 
in  the  Navy;  she  was  coated  with  Simms's  com- 
position. I  had  been  trying  her  powers  of  tacking 
under  sail  only,  and  in  doing  so  noticed  the 
cement  coming  off  in  flakes  owing  to  the  '  bloom  ' 
on  the  steel  ;  a  thing  not  expected,  so  we  were 
again  docked  at  Malta. 

From  there  we  went  up  the  Adriatic,  visiting 
many  ports  and  staying  at  Trieste.  While  there, 
we  visited  the  famous  Grotto  of  Adelsberg  with  its 

214 


TRIESTE 

subterranean  river  in  Carniola ;  its  stalactites  and 
stalagmites  are  probably  unrivalled  elsewhere. 
We  got  a  specimen  of  the  Proteus  or  Hyporthon 
anguinus,  the  very  curious  water  lizard  or  saurian 
whose  eyes  are  there,  but  undeveloped  and  covered 
with  a  sort  of  skin. 

While  at  Trieste  I  used  to  see  much  of  that 
extraordinary^  man,  the  late  Sir  Richard  Burton, 
and  his  wife.  They  were  both  most  industrious 
in  writing  pamphlets  about  various  subjects. 
One  pamphlet  of  his  was  a  plan  to  dispose  of 
Constantinople,  by  making  it  a  free  city  guaranteed 
by  the  Great  Powers.  Lady  Burton  was  devoted 
to  her  husband,  and  he  to  her  in  his  way.  She 
started  at  Trieste  a  society  to  prevent  cruelty  to 
animals.  A  cart  used  to  go  round  every  morning 
to  catch  any  stray  dogs,  which  were  put  into  it, 
confined  there  by  bars  and  nets,  and  left  for  the 
day,  unless  claimed,  and  often  in  the  sun,  so  as 
to  leave  no  excuse  for  their  not  going  mad. 

The  Austrian  Admiral  at  Trieste  was  most 
friendly  and  genial,  and  a  great  linguist  ;  he  told 
me  he  talked  Italian  to  his  wife,  German  to  his 
daughter,  Slav  to  his  servants,  and  English  to 
the  governess,  also  French  when  required.  He 
gave  us  a  ball  and  acted  master  of  the  ceremonies 
as  if  he  had  been  a  dancing-master. 

The  squadron  joined  us  at  Trieste,  and  general 
leave  was  given,  with  more  riotous  results  than 
I  have  ever  seen  elsewhere.  We  next  went  to 
Tunis,  to  watch  British  interests,  in  company  with 
the  Monarch  and  Falcon,  during  the  French 
operations  on  that  coast,  and  especially  at  Sphax. 

215 


yiY  KAV.\L  CAREER 

The  French  squadron  was  in  good  order 
and  commanded  by  a  \-ice-admiral  who,  though 
just  cuil  to  us,  e\'idently  hated  our  presence 
here.     He  was  a  martinet  of  the  old  sort. 

The  site  of  Carthage  can  be  clearh'  made 
out,  i.e.  no  obser\'ant  person  can  go  over  it 
without  seeing  there  was  a  city  there.  The 
immense  ancient  water  reser\*oir5  are  the  most 
e^•ident  remains.  It  can  never  have  been  the 
least  Uke  Turner's  famous  picture,  but  that  does 
not  matter  I 

Mr.  Reade,  our  Consul-General  at  Tunis, 
remembered  the  loss  of  our  Avefiger  on  the  Sorelli 
rocks  in  1847,  and  her  four  survivors  being  put 
up  in  his  father's  house,  and  said  the  Arabs 
behaved  well  to  the  ship\^Tecked  men.  At  Tunis 
is  the  grave  of  Colonel  Howard  Pa\Tie,  who  died 
in  1S52,  and  is  stated  to  be  the  author  of  '  Home, 
Sweet   Home.'     Is  this  so  ? 

Mr.  Reade  said  that  when  Lord  A P 

came  here  in  his  yacht  he  (Mr.  Reade)  accom- 
panied Lord  A to  pay  his  respects  to  the 

Bey.  The  audience  chamber  at  the  Palace  is  a 
ver\'  long  narrow  room,  \\-ith  the  door  at  one  end 
and  the  throne  at  the  other.  On  the  left  hand 
as  you  go  in  are  at  least  six  windows  and  opposite 
each  window  is  a  lar^e  mirror.  Between  all  the 
windows  and  the  mirrors  are  tables,  and  on  every 
table  is  a  clock.     After  presentation  Mr.   Reade 

asked  if  Lord  A wished  to  say  an^-thing  to 

his  Highness,  on  which  his  Lordship,  with  that 
assm^ed  complacency  well  kno\Mi  to  his  family, 
put   up  his   e\*eglass,    looked  round    and    said  : 

216 


TUNIS 

'  Oh  yes,  ask  the  old  cock  why  he  has  so  many 
clocks,  and  all  keeping  different  time  I  ' 

The  Fast  of  Ramadan  was  on  when  I  w£ls  at 
Tunis  ;  it  changes  its  season  each  year,  according  to 
the  moon,  and  as  no  food  or  liquid  may  be  swallowed 
by  the  faithful  during  it  between  sunrise  and  sun- 
set, it  is,  of  course,  much  the  most  tr\ing  ordeal 
when  in  the  summer.  All  persons  over  twelve 
years  old  ought  to  keep  it. 

On  board  the  French  ship  Marengo,  her 
Captain — Layrle — asked  if  I  was  related  to  Sir 
Michael  Seymour,  who  commanded  the  Amethyst 
in  iSo8  and  captured  the  French  frigate  Thetis. 
\Mien  I  said  *  Yes,'  he  said,  '  My  grandfather 
was  taken  prisoner  in  the  Thetis.' 

We  la}'  oft  Tunis  over  a  month  of  very  hot 
weather,  then  \*isited  Sphax  and  several  other 
places.  The  French  had  bombarded  and  taken 
Sphax,  and  their  troops  were  d\ing  fast  of  t^'phoid, 
&c.  In  the  country  near  here  are  old  Roman 
remains,  sho\\ing  it  was  once  ci\Thsed  and  very 
populous. 

I  rejoined  the  Admiral  at  Palma  in  Majorca, 
and  we  went  to  Gibraltar  via  Cartagena,  which  is 
a  good  anchorage  ;  and  an  aphorism  of  Admiral 
Doria's  was  that  the  three  best  harbours  in  the 
Mediterranean  were  June,   July,   and  Cartagena. 

We  visited  Port  Mahon  in  Minorca,  which  only 
wants  to  be  larger  inside  to  be  a  first-class 
steamers'  man-of-war  port.  Everyone  knows  we 
have  held  it  three  times ;  it  is  too  much  out  of  the 
road  between  Gibraltar  and  Egypt  to  be  quite 
what  we  want.     In   the  sailing  days  getting  in 

217 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

and  out  with  a  foul  wind  could  only  be  done  by 
warping,  or  towing  with  boats.  I  believe  Lord 
Collingwood's  flagship,  leaving  with  him  in  his 
last  illness,  took  twenty-four  hours  to  get  out. 

'As  lazy  as  a  Port  Mahon  soldier'  is  an  old 
naval  expression  ;  and  I  was  amused,  on  visiting 
the  fortifications,  to  see  the  Spanish  sentry 
justifying  the  above,  by  leaning  his  rifle  against 
a  wall  and  sitting  down  near  it.  The  Spaniards 
have  now  fortified  the  port,  by  a  fort  in  the  right 
place,  to  the  eastward  of  the  entrance. 

I  visited  Barcelona,  which  I  call  the  Liverpool 
of  Spain.  But  it  is  far  more  prosperous  than 
loyal. 

Next  winter,  among  other  places,  we  were  on 
the  coast  of  Syria,  and  rode  up  to  Jerusalem, 
which  I  am  glad  to  have  seen  before  desecrated 
by  a  railway.  We  landed,  of  course,  at  Jaffa, 
where  Jonah  embarked,  and  where  Perseus 
liberated  Andromeda,  but  the  Holy  Land  is  too 
well  known  for  me  to  describe  it.  When  leaving 
Jerusalem  one  of  our  party  was  disappointed  in 
not  getting  the  bottle  of  Jordan  water  he  had 
been  promised.  In  vain  the  waiter  tried  to 
pacify  him,  so  after  swearing  there  were  no  more 
he  hurriedly  retreated,  and  presently  returned 
saying  that  extraordinary  to  relate  one  more  had 
been  found;    and  no  doubt  it  did  very  well. 

At  Beyrut  I  called  on  Roustem  Pasha,  the 
Governor-General  of  Sjrria,  afterwards  well  known 
in  London.  In  the  room  where  he  received  me 
there  was  an  immense  stuffed  brown  bear,  of 
which  he  told  me  the  following  story  :    He  was 

2l8 


BEYRUT  AND  TRIPOLI 

going  out  to  a  bear-shooting  drive  between  Peters- 
burg and  Moscow  in  the  winter.  The  man  who 
usually  carried  his  second  rifle  was  wanted  for 
a  special  job,  so  he  took  another  man.  The 
shooters  were  posted  as  usual,  deep  snow  was  on 
the  ground.  At  last  a  bear  appeared  in  front  of 
him,  but  seeing  him  turned  to  try  and  break 
back.  He  said :  '  I  had  not  a  good  chance  and 
should  not  have  fired ;  but  I  did,  and  only 
wounded  the  bear,  which  at  once  rushed  at  me. 
I  fired  my  second  barrel  without  effect,  and 
called  for  my  other  rifle,  but  my  man  had  fled. 
The  bear  came  on,  throwing  the  snow  up  in  the 
air  in  a  shower  as  he  came.  I  fired  all  barrels  of 
my  revolver,  and  the  bullets  were  found  to  have 
hit  him,  but  on  he  came.  I  saw  a  huge  thing 
in  the  air  and  found  myself  on  my  back  in  the 
snow.  The  bear  made  one  claw  at  my  face, 
leaving  the  scars  you  see,  but  his  claws  luckily 
missed  my  eyes.  I  put  up  my  left  hand  to 
protect  my  face,  he  took  my  hand  in  his  mouth, 
and  I  could  hear  the  bones  being  crushed ;  I 
tried  with  my  right  hand  to  run  my  hunting 
knife  into  him,  but  could  not.  Fortunately 
other  shooters  heard  the  shots,  came  up,  killed 
the  bear,  and  saved  me.' 

At  Tripoli  I  was  on  shore  with  my  black 
poodle  and  old  Jose,  our  interpreter;  in  the  market 
the  natives  gathered  round  the  dog,  and  curiously 
felt  him.  I  asked  Jose  what  they  said,  and  he 
replied :  *  He  say  he  think  he  sheep.' 

Much  sponge-diving  goes  on  off  here;  state- 
ments as  to  divers'  depths  and  times  under  water 

219 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

differ  from  25  fathoms  and  2  minutes  to  31 
fathoms  and  4 J  minutes — I  believe  the  former, 
if  either. 

We  went  to  the  Gulf  of  Iskanderun  and 
Alexandretta,  founded  after  the  battle  of  Issus. 
Near  here  we  were  shooting  at  Jonah's  Pillar, 
where  he  landed  from  the  whale  (or  fish).  Instead 
of  going  to  Aleppo  I  camped  out,  with  some  of 
my  officers,  on  the  ancient  Pyramus  River  to 
shoot  a  very  varied  bag — francolin,  swan,  ducks 
of  kinds,  cock,  teal,  &c.  They  say  twelve 
varieties  of  game  in  all. 

Aleppo  reminds  one  of  its  *  button,'  so  called — 
a  very  bad  boil — the  water  is  said  to  cause  it. 
Natives  usually  have  it  on  the  face ;  few  residents, 
I  believe,  escape  it. 

From  here  I  went  to  Cyprus,  and  at  ancient 
Salamis,  near  Farmagousta,  where  excavations  of 
the  tombs  were  going  on,  were  found  some  small 
vases  two  thousand  years  old,  and  just  like  what 
aie  made  now. 

In  the  spring  of  1882  we  went  to  Greece,  and 
had  a  very  pleasant  cruise  in  company  with 
H.M.S.  Bacchante,  commanded  by  Captain  Lord 
Charles  Scott,  with  our  two  Princes,  Albert  and 
George — the  sons  of  our  late  King — on  board  her  as 
naval  cadets  ;  Prince  George  being  our  present 
Gracious  Sovereign.  They,  of  course,  visited  the 
King  and  Queen  of  the  Hellenes,  who  kindly 
took  me  also  out  to  Patoy,  their  home  in  the 
mountains,  a  beautiful  spot. 

In  June  we  went  to  Alexandria.  The  famous 
riots  there  took  place  on  the  nth  and  were  the 

220 


ALEXANDRIA 

prelude  to  the  occurrences  that  summer,  but 
this  is  not  history  and  only  a  general  narrative 
of  events.  Until  just  before  the  bombardment 
(on  nth  July)  my  ship  was  very  actively  employed 
examining  the  coast,  and  going  to  Malta  and 
back.  The  only  two  battleships,  then  called 
ironclads,  that  could  get  into  Alexandria  harbour 
were  the  Monarch  and  Invincible,  and  in  the 
latter  ship  our  Admiral  (Sir  Beauchamp  Seymour) 
flew  his  flag  during  the  bombardment.  The 
rest  of  our  large  ships  had  to  remain  outside  and 
attack  from  there. 

Till  just  before  the  crisis  we  expected  the 
French  to  join  us,  and  I  think  from  this  point 
of  view  the  French  President  made  a  great  mis- 
take in  withdrawing  their  ships,  though  for  us 
ever  since  it  has  no  doubt  been  an  immense 
advantage,  and  simplified  our  position  in  Egypt. 

I  had  hoped  to  join  in  the  bombardment,  and 
the  Admiral  would  have  kept  me  for  it,  but  the 
Admiralty  fearing  what  might  happen  at  Port 
Said,  and  to  the  Suez  Canal  in  case  of  warlike 
operations,  I  was  sent  there,  to  our  great  dis- 
appointment. 

On  7th  July  I  arrived  at  Port  Said  and  moored 
ship  abreast  of  the  Egyptian  corvette  Sakaa.  I 
prepared  for  action,  and  sent  a  lieutenant  on 
board  her  to  say  that  if  she  moved  or  took  any 
active  part  I  should  fire  into  her.  She  at  once 
beat  to  quarters,  loaded  and  trained  her  guns 
on  us — but  unfortunately  did  not  fire. 

I  had  all  planned  out  to  land  such  men  as 
I  could  spare  in  case  of  a  fight,  to  do  certain 

221 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

things  on  shore,  and  it  might  have  turned  out 
very  interesting. 

Meanwhile  great  alarm  grew  in  Port  Said,  so 
much  so  that  I  chartered  a  large  merchant  steamer 
and  put  the  British  and  other  European  residents 
who  wished  on  board  her  for  safety,  with  one  of 
my  lieutenants  in  charge  of  the  ship.  About  360 
refugees  lived  in  the  vessel. 

On  nth  July  the  bombardment  of  Alexandria 
took  place,  and  the  same  day  there  arrived  from 
thence  the  French  ironclad  La  Gallissoniere,  with 
the  flag  of  Rear-Admiral  Conrad,  a  charming  man, 
whom  I  knew  before  and  have  often  seen  since. 

To  the  westward  of  Port  Said  is  a  large  shallow 
lake  called  Lake  Menzaleh,  communicating  with 
the  sea  by  a  narrow  channel  defended  by  a  fort 
called  Ghemil.  It  seemed  to  me  suitable  that  this 
fort  should  be  put  out  of  action,  but  our  position 
was  that  we  were  friends  with  the  Khedive  and 
Egyptian  Government  and  could  do  no  violence 
unless  they  began.  I  went  out  in  one  of  my  ship's 
torpedo-boats  to  reconnoitre  the  fort,  on  which 
they  turned  their  men  out,  loaded  and  pointed  their 
rifles  at  us,  but  to  my  surprise  did  not  fire  and  so 
give  me  an  excuse  to  attack  the  fort,  which  I 
should  have  done  with  m}^  ship. 

The  Suez  Canal  Company  under  the  direction 
of  M.  de  Lesseps  from  the  first  showed  an  animus 
towards  us;  for  this  there  were  excuses,  and 
certainly  the  condition  we  reduced  the  beautiful 
garden  of  Ismalia,  the  creation  of  Lesseps,  to 
later  on  must  have  been  maddening  to  him.  But 
worse  still  was  the  fact  that  he  had  assured  Arabi 

222 


SUEZ  CANAL 

Pacha  that  he  might  be  sure  the  Enghsh  should 
not  be  allowed  to  use  the  canal  for  any  warlike 
operations,  and  that  therefore  there  was  no 
occasion  to  block  or  injure  the  canal.  This  was  a 
promise  that  we,  of  course,  could  not  give,  or  if 
we  did,  must  keep.  Given  by  a  man  known  not 
to  be  our  friend  it  was  believed  by  Arabi,  but  did 
not  bind  us  at  all.  The  last  straw  was  that  we 
seized  the  Canal  Company's  premises  at  Port  Said 
and  took  our  men-of-war  and  transports  up  our- 
selves ;  we  paid  for  their  canal  passage  dues,  but 
refused  to  pay  for  their  long  detention  in  Lake 
Timsah  on  the  ground  that  it  was  original  water. 

I  was  employed  with  Captain  Gill,  R.E.,i  to 
find  out  things  connected  with  the  canal.  Lesseps' 
head  man  at  Port  Said — a  French  gentleman — 
said  to  us  in  the  plainest  French :  '  I  refuse  abso- 
lutely to  give  you  any  information.'  Such  was 
their  feeling  towards  us. 

Captain  Lomen  of  the  Zabiaka,  a  Russian 
cruiser  lying  at  Port  Said,  told  me  he  was  a  small 
boy  at  their  Government  school  for  the  sons  of 
distinguished  officers,  when  the  late  Czar  Nicholas  I 
visited  it.  He  called  the  boys — all  under  ten 
years  old — out  to  the  playground  and  said  :  '  Now, 
boys,  I'm  a  fort,  come  and  storm  me,'  he  being 
in  uniform.  At  first  they  feared  to,  but  encour- 
aged by  the  Emperor,  who  laughed  heartily,  they 
climbed  up  him  and  even  tore  his  clothes  and 
epaulettes. 

'  A  few  weeks  after  this,  poor  Gill,  a  very  valuable  oflScer, 
perished  at  the  hands  of  the  Arabs  with  Professor  Palmer  and 
Lieutenant  Charrington,  R.N. 

223 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

I  visited  the  battlefields,  and  was  never  more 
thirsty  than  in  some  long  rides  over  the  sandy 
desert,  but  all  camps  and  posts  provided  cold 
tea  on  arrival,  and  nothing  is  better  to  quench 
the  thirst. 

I  had  the  job  of  dismanthng  the  Rosetta  mouth 
of  the  Nile  forts,  and  destroyed  an  immense  store 
of  ammunition.  The  Rosetta  Stone,  which  was 
so  useful  to  assist  translations  from  the  ancient 
Egyptian  characters,  was  found  here  in  1799  by 
M.  Bouchard,  a  Captain  of  Engineers  in  Napoleon's 
army. 

The  mirage  plays  such  odd  tricks  wdth  the 
vision  that  I  remember  one  day  they  reported  to 
me  that  a  large  number  of  men,  probably  troops, 
were  seen  near.  They  proved  to  be  only  traps, 
for  quail,  about  eighteen  inches  high,  magnified. 
I  am  inclined  to  relate  other  things,  but  must 
not  digress. 

Tate  in  October  I  took  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  and 
his  staff  to  Trieste  on  his  way  home,  and  found 
him  a  very  agreeable  companion. 

In  November  I  returned  to  Malta  with  our 
Admiral  and  his  flag  on  board  my  ship.  We 
entered  the  grand  harbour  with  much  excitement, 
Sir  Beauchamp  Seymour  being  received  with  great 
enthusiasm  ;  and  the  Egyptian  campaign  was 
now  over.  Two  da3^s  after  the  Admiral  told  me 
to  take  command  of  the  Inflexible,  and  I  said  good- 
bye to  my  beautiful  Iris,  and  was  sorry  to  leave 
both  ship  and  officers. 


224 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

H.M.S.    INFLEXIBLE 

Efifect  of  a  Shell — Torpedoes — Strike  a  Rock — Lord  Alcester — 
Ball's  Monument  —  Summer  Cruise  —  Exercises  —  Austrian 
Horses — Venice  —  Loretto  —  Navarino — Delphi — Salonica — 
Thasos — Mount  Athos — Odd  After-glow — Candia — Cyprus 
— Nelson  Island — Ephesus. 

The  Inflexible  was  five  things,  viz.  the  largest 
ship  in  our  Navy,  being  the  only  one  then  of  lo.ooo 
tons  ;  she  was  also  considered  our  most  powerful 
fighting  ship,  and  she  was  the  only  one  that  had 
cost  a  million  pounds ;  she  was  also  certainly 
the  most  complicated  vessel,  and  was  the  first 
man-of-war  illuminated  by  electric  light. 

She  had  been  commissioned  about  a  year  before 
at  Portsmouth  by  Captain  J.  A.  Fisher, i  whose 
talents  and  knowledge  made  him  a  very  proper 
person  to  start  such  a  ship.  But  illness  acquired 
during  his  active  service  in  Egypt  had  forced  him 
to  invalid  home. 

At  the  bombardment  of  Alexandria  a  Palliser's 
shell  had  hit  the  ship  on  her  starboard  quarter, 
turned  over,  and  then  base  forwards  had  struck 

'  Now  Lord  Fisher,  Admiral  of  the  Fleet. 

225  0 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

the  iron  stern  cable  bitts,  they  having  after- 
wards been  landed  at  Malta.  Some  United  States 
officers  were  being  shown  over  the  ship,  and  on 
the  First-lieutenant  telling  this  story  and  seeing 
a  look  of  incredulity  on  the  shrewd  Yankee  face 
he  added,  *  If  I  had  not  seen  it  myself  I  should 
not  have  believed  it.'  The  American  replied : 
*  Then,  sir,  you  will  allow  me  the  same  privilege.' 

We  went  at  once  to  the  Ionian  Islands,  Patras, 
&c.  In  cold  winters  there  are  at  times  plenty  of 
woodcock  to  be  got  about  there,  and  hiring  a 
small  cutter  for  a  day  or  two's  cruise  and  shoot- 
ing on  the  opposite  coast  to  Corfu  was  a  favourite 
form  of  sport. 

The  hifiexihle  was  the  only  regular  sea-going 
man-of-war  with  submerged  torpedo-tubes  that 
were  not  fixed,  but  trained,  through  an  angle  of 
37  degrees — viz.  27  degrees  before  the  beam  and 
10  degrees  abaft  it.  This  plan  was  a  mistake ; 
the  different  deflections  to  be  allowed  for  training 
and  speed  of  ship  were  very  difficult  of  settlement 
and  certain  tabulation,  and  one  might  add  as  an 
objection  the  possibility  of  a  mistake  as  to  how 
the  torpedo-tube  was  trained.  However,  all  this 
has  long  been  given  up. 

The  ship  had  six  different  torpedo-discharges 
— viz.  the  two  already  mentioned,  two  ordinary 
above-water  ones,  a  peculiar  bow  scoop,  or  frame, 
down  which  the  torpedo  when  relieved  ran,  and 
a  pair  of  sheers  aft  to  throw  one  out  by.  These 
two  last  were  more  tovs  than  of  serious  value  ; 
but  all  taken  together  gave  us  endless  torpedo 
practice.     In   spite   of  which   we  lost   only   one 

226 


TORPEDO  PRACTICE 

torpedo  finally,  though  many  gave  long  hunts  for 
them.  The  one  lost  was  off  Port  Said,  and  I  am 
not  sure  our  surmise  was  not  correct,  that  a  crust 
had  formed  on  the  ancient  layer  of  mud  once 
deposited  by  the  Nile  when  it  had  a  mouth  there — 
since  the  river  changed  its  course — and  that  our 
torpedo  dived  through,  and  remained  under  that 
crust. 

When  a  torpedo  had  sunk  to  the  bottom,  we 
used  to  send  several  boats  to  watch  for  its  air 
bubbles  coming  up,  whenever  it  was  calm,  and  in 
this  way  we  have  foimd  and  recovered  torpedoes 
more  than  two  days  after  they  had  gone  down. 

In  February  my  last  ship,  the  Iris,  grounded  at 
Port  Augusta,  and  we  were  sent  to  help  her  off, 
but  on  arrival  found  she  had  happily  got  off 
without  us.  The  entrance  marks  there  are  not 
easy  to  make  out ;  much  sea  experience  has  shown 
me  that  no  one  can  guarantee  they  will  never  have 
a  mishap  by  grounding  or  collision  ;  the  great 
thing  is  whenever  such  has  occurred  to  any  ship  to 
find  out  the  how  and  why,  and  so  avoid  perhaps 
anything  like  a  repetition. 

In  the  Inflexible  we  had  a  very  narrow  shave  of 
loss — it  was  also  in  Port  Augusta ;  we  were  running 
torpedoes  and  steaming  round  the  harbour  at  full 
speed,  when  suddenly  the  ship  heeled  slightly 
over,  but  continued  her  way.  The  chart  marked 
deep  enough  water  there,  and  no  rocks  near.  I 
sent  boats  away  at  once  to  sound,  but  nothing 
could  be  found.  The  ship  made  no  water,  and 
though  opinions  were  divided  it  seemed  as  if  she 
could  not  have  struck  anything.     However,  soon 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

after,  in  examining  the  double  bottom,  some  bolts 
and  nuts  were  found  displaced,  and  it  was  evident 
we  had  touched  something.  The  rock  was  even- 
tually found.  Good  fortune  had  befriended  us 
in  that  it  was  not  a  foot  or  two  higher.  The  ship 
had  scores  of  times  passed  close  to  it,  but  the  fact 
is  that  in  shallow  water  only  a  '  sweeping  '  surve\' 
can  be  said  to  make  the  chart  perfectly  sure. 

About  seventy  of  us  naval  officers  entertained 
our  Commander-in-Chief,  Lord  Alcester,  at  the 
United  Service  Club  of  Malta  on  his  being  about 
to  be  relieved  in  the  command. 

In  his  speech  he  advised  officers  when  in  doubt 
always  to  fight.  This  is  good  general  advice, 
for  when  any  real  ground  to  do  so  exists  our 
country  will,  I  believe,  always  back  up  anyone 
who  has  fought  well,  even  if  not  actually  successful. 
I  say  this  in  spite  of  the  sad  Minorca  episode  of 

1756. 

In  February  Lord  John  Hay  arrived  from 
England,  and  relieved  Lord  Alcester  in  command 
of  the  station. 

About  this  time  I  took  it  into  my  head  to  get 
the  monument  to  Admiral  Sir  Alexander  Ball  on 
the  lower  Barraca  of  Valetta  restored.  He  was 
Captain  of  the  Alexander  at  the  Nile,  and  pre- 
sented Nelson  with  the  coffin  made  out  of  the 
Orient's  mainmast.  After  that  he  commanded 
on  shore  the  operations  which  ended  in  our  taking 
Valetta,  and  he  was  the  first  British  Governor  of 
Malta,  the  only  naval  one,  and  much  liked  by  the 
Maltese.  The  monument  was  erected  by  the 
public  at  Malta,  on  Ball's  death,  but  was  now 

228 


RESTORATIONS  AT  MALTA 

much  dilapidated.  I  got  a  committee  formed,  and 
after  much  trouble  the  work  was  satisfactorily 
carried  out. 

The  only  other  restoration  I  undertook  at 
Malta  was  to  repaint  and  do  up  the  public  house 
in  Bermola  called  '  Charley  Moore  the  fair  thing.' 
I  did  this  on  account  of  the  story  of  a  marine  being 
flogged,  who,  when  his  Captain  found  fault  with 
the  flogger  for  not  doing  his  duty,  said  :  '  This 
man  's  a-flogging  me  properly,  and  I  think  I  knows 
best ;  I  believe  you  knows  Malta,  and  "  Charley 
Moore  the  fair  thing,"  that's  all  I  wants.' 

We  were  much  in  Malta  in  the  spring  of  1883. 
In  those  days  it  was  very  fairly  healthy,  and  its 
climate,  except  between  June  and  October,  is  very 
pleasant.  September  is  the  worst  month  owmg 
to  the  Sirocco  wind,  and  next  to  that  August. 

Although  I  often  wished  to  be  less  at  Malta  it 
yet  had  many  social  charms.  In  winter  I  much 
enjoyed  riding  picnics  to  various  places  ;  and  in 
summer  to  dine  on  the  housetop  at  Mellea's  at  night 
was  very  pleasant,  especially  when  you  could  be 
sure  of  driving  home  with  the  right  person  ! 

That  summer  we  cruised  much  with  the  Fleet 
under  our  Commander-in-Chief,  Lord  John  Hay. 
I  have  been  amused  by  shore  people  thinking 
fleet  summer  cruises  must  be  delightful.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  they  hardly  can  be  so.  The  weather 
is  too  hot,  and  the  intention  of  them  is  to  driU 
and  exercise  as  much  as  is  practicable,  and  make 
the  fleet  efficient.  The  short  stag's  in  port  must 
be  much  occupied  by  official  visits  and  harbour 
drills ;  but  for  these  and  not  for  amusements  the 

229 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

ships    are    intended,    and    should    then    thus    be 
occupied. 

But  the  summer  cruises,  and  all  proper  squadron 
cruises,  are  of  great  value.  Competition  is  the 
soul  of  energy  ;  in  England  we  are  nearly  mad 
about  our  games  on  shore,  but  from  cricket,  which 
I  consider  the  first  of  them,  downwards,  can  you 
imagine  a  game  of  any  sort  without  competition  ? 
Thus  is  it  on  board  ship,  and  thus  was  it  especially 
with  rigged  ships.  Before  the  invention  of  steam 
no  one  questioned  the  use  of  masts  and  sails  be- 
cause they  were  the  legs,  the  life,  of  ships  and  a  fleet. 

Steam  came ;  for  many  years  they  were  kept 
on  as  faithful  old  friends,  as  stand-bys,  and 
perhaps  for  economy.  But  they  had  beyond  this 
a  special  value,  viz.  exercise  aloft  was  a  competitive 
one  that  no  other  can  compare  to  now,  or  probably 
ever  will.  Wh}^  ?  Why  because  every  man  could 
see  how  his  ship  was  getting  on  compared  to  the 
others.  And  this  made  him,  if  worth  his  salt,  throw 
his  heart  into  it. 

The  isolated  ship,  rigged  ship  or  brig,  in  like 
way  competed  mast  against  mast. 

As  that  first-rate  seaman,  Captain  jMcNiel  Boyd, 
who  wrote  the  '  Naval  Cadets'  Manual,'  and  nobly 
perished  trying  to  save  life  in  a  gale  of  wind  at 
Kingston  harbour,  said,  *  The  romance  of  the  sea 
is  buried  in  the  coal  bunkers.' 

I  quite  understood  his  feeling,  and  '  sic  par\ds 
componere  magna,'  it  is  the  case  as  regards 
competitive  exercises  ;  none  other  as  regards  the 
individual  sailor  will  ever  come  up  to  exercise 
aloft,  for  the  reason  given  above. 

230 


TRIESTE  AND  LIVITYA 

We  cannot  help  it,  times  change,  and  we  must 
go  with  what  should  bring  in  the  war  indemnity. 
As  concerns  mere  physical  development  I  con- 
sider masts  and  sails  have  been  much  overrated, 
and  are  not  to  be  compared  in  those  respects  to  the 
ships'  companies  generally  with  the  Sandow's, 
Swedish  and  other  exercises,  now  well  known  and 
practised. 

But  I  believe  no  modern  naval  officer  can 
conceive  the  excitement  and  emulation  evoked 
generally  in  all  ships  that  pretended  to  be  *  smart ' 
by  general  exercise  aloft.  Fatal  accidents  b}^  falls, 
of  course,  occurred  at  times,  but  the  only  wonder 
was  that  they  were  not  more  frequent. 

We  went  up  the  Adriatic  to  Trieste  and  visited 
many  places  ;  among  them  Pola,  the  American 
Portsmouth.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  kindness 
and  courtesy  of  the  Austrian  ladies  and  officers 
and  others.  It  was  only  in  1856  that  they  began 
Pola  as  a  naval  arsenal,  but  any  account  of  it  in 
1883  would  be  out  of  date  now. 

I  also  visited  Livitya,  the  great  breeding 
establishment  for  the  riding  and  carriage  horses 
of  the  Emperor.  This  was  first  established  in 
1580,  with  many  horses  from  Spain.  Now  Arab 
blood  is  often  brought  in.  The  horses  are  seldom 
over  15.2,  but  mostly  powerful  animals,  and  often 
with  the  very  arched  necks  shown  in  pictures 
by  Van  Dyck  and  Velasquez.  White  seems  the 
general  colour  ;  I  was  told  they  are  frequently  born 
dark,  but  change  to  white  as  they  grow  up.  At 
about  three  years  old  they  are  sent  to  Vienna  to  be 
trained.     I  have  seen  them  there  in  the  Imperial 

231 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

establishment,  called  the  Spanish  riding  school, 
and  their  performances  are  very  remarkable. 
One  is  to  rear  up  with  a  rider  on  the  back,  and 
remain  for  many  seconds  immovable,  then  balance 
on  the  hind  legs.  I  have  seen  pictures  by 
Velasquez  at  Madrid  showing  it.  Another  per- 
formance is  for  the  horse,  with  a  rider,  to  spring  up 
into  the  air,  and  when  there  with  body  horizontal 
to  kick  out  with  both  fore  and  hind  legs. 

We  went  to  Venice,  the  squadron,  of  course, 
lying  at  Malomocco  outside,  but  I  will  not  venture 
any  account  of  the  '  Spouse  of  the  Adriatic,'  as  she 
is  too  well  known. 

While  in  the  Doge's  Palace  I  met  the  carpenter 
of  my  ship,  a  very  zealous  warrant  officer,  and 
said  to  him,  *  Well,  w^hat  do  you  think  of  this 
place  ?  '  He  replied,  *  I  tell  you  what,  sir,  I  wish 
we  could  get  the  dockyard  to  put  gilt  like  that 
on  our  ship.'  We  visited  Fiume  and  Mr.  White- 
head's famous  torpedo  factory  ;  here  we  are  in 
Himgary,  and  at  a  public  dinner  you  must  toast 
the  King  and  not  the  Emperor.  The  Hungarians 
are  as  clannish  as  the  Scotch,  and  as  unmalleable 
politically  as  the  Irish. 

We  also  went  to  Ancona,  the  port  for  Loretto, 
and  saw  the  Santa  Casa,  or  holy  house,  that  we  are 
assured  was  miraculously  transported  here  from 
Palestine.  It  is  built  of  thin  bricks  and  of 
stones. 

We  visited  the  Bay  of  Navarino,  replete  with 
its  memories  of  1827 — that  'untoward  event,' 
as  it  was  phrased  in  the  King's  speech.  It  is 
often   (if  not  always)   easy  to  be  wise  after  an 

232 


DELPHI 

event ;  however,  as  things  seemed  then,  and  now, 
I  do  not  see  that  we  were  far  wrong. 

The  Turk  has  some  great  quahties :  courage, 
sobriety,  and  enthusiasm  for  his  religion,  for 
instance  ;  but,  say  what  you  may  for  him, 
Mahomed  II  took  Constantinople  in  1453,  but  in 
four  and  a  half  centuries  they  have  never  added 
to  the  arts  or  sciences  of  the  world,  or  joined  the 
European  family.  A  Turk  is,  in  my  experience, 
usually  a  gentleman,  but  seems  best  suited  to  the 
days  of  the  Arabian  nights. 

I  went  to  Delphi ;  it  was  long  ago  quite  altered 
by  an  earthquake,  but  the  memory  and  interest 
of  such  a  place  cannot  fade.  One  can  picture 
the  Priestess  of  Apollo  seated  on  her  tripod,  and 
her  eager  and  credulous  listeners.  '  Tempora 
mutantur,'  but  fortune-tellers,  though  less  classical 
and  romantic,  still  exist. 

Boat  regattas,  both  sailing  and  rowing,  were 
much  looked  forward  to  and  enjoyed  by  the 
squadron  ;  the  principal  one  was  in  the  autumn,  but 
at  that  season  the  wind  was  often  too  light  for 
sailing  and  better  for  oars.  Cheering  boats  by 
the  ships'  companies  was  forbidden,  but  at  times 
they  seemed  irrepressible,  and  earned  some  signals 
and  remarks,  of  a  mixed  character  ! 

In  1883  we  had  our  pulling  regatta  in  the 
Gulf  of  Volo,  and  as  a  final  summary  were  much 
pleased  to  come  out  first  as  bracketed  with  the 
Temeraire. 

We  visited  Salonika,  scripturally  interesting 
as  having  been  the  Thessalonica  to  whose  people 
St.  Paul's  Epistles  were  written.     When  we  were 

233 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

there  half  the  population  was  said  to  be  Jewish, 
descended  from  Spanish  Jews  who  fled  from 
Spain  and  came  here  early  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  even  now  they  talk  Spanish  much  among 
themselves. 

Near  here  brigands  still  abounded,  so  much  so 
that  the  authorities  were  afraid  of  our  officers 
going  out  a  few  miles  to  shoot.  We  went  to 
Thasos  Island,  and  there  had  our  squadron 
sailing  regatta.  Thasos  is  in  the  north  of  the 
iEgean  Sea,  and  is  a  most  attractive  island.  It 
was  the  dowry  of  the  Khedive's  wife  at  that 
time.  It  is  beautiful  and  fertile,  partly  formed 
of  fine  white  marble,  and  once  had  both  gold 
and  silver  mines.  Ruins  of  fortifications  and  other 
buildings  proved  the  importance  and  great  pros- 
perity it  once  possessed. 

I  visited  Mount  Athos  and  went  over  the 
monastery  of  Batopedion,  the  second  in  size  of  the 
twenty  large  ones  at  Athos.  Besides  these  there 
are  many  smaller  places  of  retirement  there,  as 
well  as  actual  hermitages,  the  whole  number  of 
monks  lay  and  clerical  being  put  at  about  three 
thousand.  Batopedion  was  founded  in  the  fourth 
century  by  Constantine  the  Great.  From  the  sea 
it  looks  like  a  fortified  town,  and  is  only  two  or 
three  hundred  yards  from  the  beach.  It  was 
necessary  to  be  protected  against  the  raids  of 
pirates.  The  monks  speak  Greek  among  them- 
selves, but  a  few  knew  English,  and  some  other 
European  languages.  The  library  has  many  books, 
mostly  in  Greek.  The  monks  were  dignified  and 
courteous. 

234 


WINTER  AT  MALTA 

Next  winter  was  mostly  spent  at  Malta.  The 
sunsets  in  December  were  quite  unusual,  due,  it 
was  supposed,  to  the  tremendous  volcanic  eruption 
at  Krakatoa,  in  the  straits  of  Sunda  between  Java 
and  Sumatra  in  the  previous  August.  The 
astronomer's  opinion  was  that  the  immense 
quantity  of  dust  then  thrown  up  into  the  air  took 
months  to  settle  down  again,  and  meanwhile  that 
it  reflected  the  sun's  rays  in  a  remarkable  manner. 

Whether  or  not  this  was  the  case  I  cannot  say, 
but  I  well  remember  the  bright  afterglows  often 
visible,  and  specially  that  one  evening  on  5th  July 
when  a  party  of  us  were  riding  back  to  Valetta 
from  the  west  end  of  Malta,  our  horses'  heads  turned 
to  the  eastward,  with  the  full  moon  risen  in  our 
faces,  our  shadows  were  plainly  thrown  towards  the 
moon,  though  the  sun  had  set  more  than  half  an 
hour — the  idea  being  that  the  reflection  from  the 
above  dust  particles  caused  this. 

In  the  '  Capua  of  Malta,'  in  winter,  much 
entertainment  and  gaiety  goes  on,  but  of  that  I 
will  only  chronicle  that  we  gave  a  ball  in  the 
Inflexible  lying  in  the  grand  harbour  ;  we  think  it 
would  have  been  a  success,  but  hardly  was  every- 
one on  board  and  dancing  well  begun  than  at  about 
10.30  it  came  on  to  blow  and  rain  in  torrents,  and 
went  on  nearly  all  night.  Ships'  awnings  cannot 
stand  that,  and  the  moral  seems  to  be  '  Do  not  give 
balls  in  a  ship.' 

We  were  often  at  Corfu,  and  never  sorry  to  be 
there.  A  Greek  friend  there  gave  me  a  pea- 
cock and  peahen,  which  used  to  roost  aloft  at 
night,  the  only  case  I  ever  knew  of  such  pets  m  a 

235 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

man-of-war.  I  had  a  clever  black  poodle  dog, 
called  Toby,  and  the  Vice-Consul's  wife,  who  was 
fond  of  animals,  was  very  kind  to  him,  so  he  was 
often  at  their  house.  One  morning  we  arrived  very 
early,  and  the  above  lady's  maid,  who  was  French, 
coming  in  to  call  her  mistress  exclaimed,  '  Oh 
Madame,  Madame,  le  batimcnt  de  Toby  est  arrive.' 
Different  people  view  things  differently ;  that  was 
her  view  of  what  we  thought  the  most  powerful 
ship  in  our  Navy. 

In  1884  we  again  visited  many  places  already 
mentioned.  We  lay  a  short  time  in  Suda  Bay  in 
Candia  ;  it  is  the  crater  of  an  extinct  volcano.  The 
Minotaur's  labyrinth  in  Candia  (or  Crete)  is,  or 
was,  laid  down  in  the  Admiralty  charts.  \\'ho 
the  hydrographer  at  that  time  was,  or  what  the 
Minotaur  thought  of  it,  history  does  not  relate. 

In  August  we  were  in  Egypt,  and  sent  our  two 
48-foot  steam  pinnaces  up  the  Nile  to  assist  in  the 
intended  operations  there,  with  two  of  my  lieu- 
tenants in  command;  boats  and  crews  were  alike 
most  useful. 

We  again  visited  Cyprus,  and  stayed  in  tents  on 
top  of  Oros  Troados,  which  is  6500  feet  high,  and 
the  nights  very  cool  in  the  middle  of  summer. 
The  natives  still,  I  was  told,  have  a  form  of  worship 
of  the  Virgin,  which  seems  certainly  to  be  a 
continuance  or  relic  of  the  cult  of  Astarte  (Venus), 
who  is  by  classical  legend  supposed  to  have  landed 
at  Paphos,  the  west  end  of  the  island,  after  her 
birth  from  the  foam  of  the  sea. 

Some  ceremonies  relating  to  divine  matcrnit}' 
here  are  more  curious  than  describable. 

236 


CYPRUS  AND  EGYPT 

From  Nicosia  we  visited  the  mountains  along 
the  north  coast  of  Cyprus.  Hilarion  Castle  was 
most  interesting  ;  it  was  very  large,  and  solidly 
built,  covering  much  ground  ;  on  the  slope,  but 
with  precipitous  sides  to  its  site,  and  it  must  have 
been  almost  impregnable.  Its  history  is  little 
known,  but  it  seems  certain  that  it  surrendered  to 
our  King  Richard  I  after  a  siege. 

The  ancient  Cathedral  in  Nicosia  has  long  been 
used  by  the  Turks  as  a  mosque,  and  it  is  curious  to 
see  how  the  arrangements  inside  it  have  so  far  as 
possible  been  turned  from  facing  east,  to  south- 
east in  order  to  point  towards  Mecca. 

Our  kind  hosts  at  Nicosia  were  the  High 
Commissioner,  Sir  Robert  Biddulph,  and  his  wife, 
who  did  all  that  was  possible  to  show  us  the  many 
interesting  things  about  the  island. 

In  October  I  was  again  in  Egypt,  and  on  one 
occasion  anchored  in  Aboukir  Bay,  on  the  site 
of  the  Battle  of  the  Nile.  While  there  one  morn- 
ing early  I  landed  with  one  of  my  lieutenants 
on  Nelson  Island  to  shoot  quail,  which  were 
expected  in  their  autumn  flight  southwards. 
However,  they  had  not  arrived,  so  we  set  to  work 
to  explore  the  island,  and  found  an  underground 
passage,  evidently  very  ancient.  There  were  in- 
scriptions cut  on  the  sides  of  the  passage,  which 
were  a  sort  of  hard  white  cement. 

The  passage  is  horizontal,  running  in  from  the 
cliff  about  sixty  feet  long,  terminating  in  what  was,  I 
suppose,  a  sepulchre.  It  was  probably  an  Egyptian 
one,  and  closed  up  for  centuries,  till  the  cliff  falling 
away  disclosed  the  passage.     One  inscription  was 

237 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

in  Greek  dated  1559,  some  were  in  Latin.  The 
more  modern  ones  were  1798,  first  some  names 
of  French  ships  and  sailors,  evidently  Admiral 
Brucy's  men  employed  making  a  battery  on  the 
island  to  protect  his  fleet  ;  and  then  others  of 
Nelson's  ships  and  men,  no  doubt  landed  there 
to  carry  off  the  French  guns  after  the  battle. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  recover  treasure 
taken  from  Malta  by  the  French  from  the  wreck 
of  the  Orient,  but  I  believe  there  is  little  doubt  it 
had  been  removed  from  her  before  the  action,  in 
which  she  was  blown  up. 

We  visited  Smyrna,  which  might  be  made  a 
good  naval  port,  as  forts  could  protect  it  from 
the  fire  of  ships  outside.  I  went  to  Ephesus, 
where  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Diana  justify 
Byron's  lines,  '  Its  ruins  strew  the  wilderness 
and  dwell  the  hyena  and  the  jackal  in  its  shade' ; 
but  I  cannot  grant  that  the  noble  bard  '  beheld 
the  Ephesian  miracle,'  which  had  then  long 
since  ceased  to  stand,  and  its  very  site  when  dis- 
covered in  1870  was  more  than  fifteen  feet 
under  ground. 

Smyrna  is  a  great  place  to  buy  Turkish  and 
Persian  carpets,  the  stores  of  them  are  immense  ; 
but  you  hardly  ever  see  a  new  one — at  least  they 
are  rare.  I  am  told  the  Americans  are  great 
purchasers  of  the  very  old  ones. 

I  should  like  to  enlarge  much  more  on  my 
Mediterranean  experiences,  but  must  not  do  so, 
in  consideration  for  my  kind  readers.  We  re- 
turned to  Malta  the  end  of  1884,  and  early  in 
1885  were  ordered  home. 

238 


APPOINTMENTS  OF  THE  INFLEXIBLE 

The  Inflexible  had  an  unusual  fitting  called 
a  '  rolling  chamber.'  This  was  a  strong  water- 
tight compartment  running  across  the  ship  from 
side  to  side.  It  was  to  be  about  a  third  to  a  half 
filled  with  water,  the  theory  being  that  as  the 
ship  rolled,  the  water  trying  to  keep  its  level,  of 
course,  moved  also,  but  was  not  quick  enough 
to  keep  pace  with  the  motion  of  the  ship,  and 
thus  resisted  the  return  roll  and  so  reduced  it. 
The  operation  made  a  great  noise,  and  was  some- 
what of  a  strain  on  the  ship,  but  it  did  check 
the  rolling  a  little. 

Since  armoured  vessels  were  first  invented, 
say  in  i860,  by  the  building  of  the  French  ship 
La  Gloire,  their  variations  have  been  endless. 
The  Inflexible  was  our  first  echelon  turret-ship, 
the  idea,  of  course,  being  to  fire  all  the  heavy  guns, 
either  ahead  or  astern ;  in  her  case  this  proved 
a  complete  failure. 

It  was  never  tried  in  her  till  we  were  coming 
home,  when  I  got  leave  from  the  Admiralty  to 
do  so.  The  results  were  surprising,  and  alarm- 
ing. I  will  not  enter  into  details,  but  merely 
say  that  only  one  gun  of  the  after — starboard — 
turret,  fired  with  a  reduced  charge  75°  before  the 
beam,  rendered  the  port  turret  and  armoured 
conning  place  untenable,  and  shook  the  fore- 
mast funnel  so  that  had  I  continued  the  experi- 
ments, as  permitted  at  my  discretion,  it  would 
probably  have  come  down. 

It  is  curious  that  a  ship  should  have  been 
designed  to  do  what  she  so  evidently  could 
not. 

239 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

All  modern  ships  soon  fall  out  of  date  ;  the 
old  Victory  was  forty-one  years  old  at  Trafalgar 
and  then  considered  the  finest  ship  in  the  Fleet  ; 
the  Inflexible  when  she  left  Portsmouth  for  the 
Mediterranean  had  cost  about  a  million  pounds, 
and  twenty-five  years  afterwards  she  was  sold 
for  £25,000. 

I  left  the  Mediterranean  with  real  regret, 
very  sorry  to  leave  the  station,  and  to  part 
from  my  Admiral,  Lord  John  Hay,  and  many 
friends  all  round  the  '  Midland  Ocean  '  ;  also 
to  pay  off  my  grand  ship,  and  leave  an  excellent 
set  of  officers  and  a  good  ship's  company. 

We  were  paid  off  at  Portsmouth,  I  having 
myself  been  nearly  five  years  on  actual  sea 
service,  and  four  and  a  half  years  from 
England. 

I  think  the  present  rule  of  the  Admiralty  to 
limit  commissions  to  only  two  years  is  a  great 
mistake ;  there  is  a  happy  medium  in  all  things, 
and  that  is  about  three  years  for  a  ship's  com- 
mission. It  takes  some  months  for  officers  and 
men  to  shake  down  and  really  know  the  ship  and 
each  other. 

On  the  other  hand  I  allow  that  four  or  five 
years  are  too  long,  and  for  more  than  one  reason : 
first  that  people  get  tired  of  each  other,  as  I 
myself  have  seen ;  and,  second,  that  it  is  hard  on 
married  men,  either  officers  or  ship's  company, 
to  keep  them  so  long  from  their  wives  and  families. 
I  am  for  the  three  years'  commission. 

By  me  foreign  service  has  always  been  much 
preferred  to   that   at  home ;    abroad  your  ship 

240 


LENGTH  OF  COMMISSIONS 

is  your  home,  and  everyone  feels  that.  In 
England,  too  many  are  only  wondering  when 
they  can  get  away  on  leave. 

When  I  entered  the  service  I  believe  only  a 
quarter,  certainly  not  more  than  one-third,  of  the 
service  afloat  in  the  sea-going  ships  were  on  the 
home  station — the  rest  were  on  foreign  service; 
now  it  is  the  opposite.  This  is  for  reasons  which 
I  need  not  state,  as  they  are  evident,  and  just 
now  it  must  be  so. 


241 


CHAPTER  XIX 

CAPTAIN— H.M.S.   OREGON— CAFTAIN 
Trial  of  the  Oregon — Manoeuvres — Admiralty  Committee. 

I  WENT  to  live  in  London,  which  then  for  many 
years  became  my  home,  when  not  employed  by 
service  away  from  it,  and  London  is,  perhaps,  the 
best  residence  for  an  officer  anxious  for  success 
in  his  career,  as  he  is  in  the  centre  of  intelligence, 
and  can  if  he  likes  benefit  in  many  ways  thereby. 

In  April  I  went  to  sta}/  for  a  time  in  Paris, 
but  came  home  suddenly,  because  war  between 
us  and  Russia  seemed  to  be  imminent  and  I 
knew  I  should  get  a  ship.  On  leaving  Paris  I 
took  leave  of  my  friend  Admiral  Conrad  at  the 
French  Admiralty,  who  talked  disinterestedly  of 
the  prospect,  the  French  and  Russian  Alliance  not 
then  existing. 

The  war  '  scare  '  soon  passed  off ;  but  while 
it  lasted  the  Admiralty  had  decided  to  commission 
as  a  man-of-war  the  Oregon,  a  Cunard  Atlantic 
liner,  and  at  that  time  the  largest  one.  My 
cousin,  Admiral  Sir  Michael  Culme  Seymour,  was 
to  have  hoisted  his  flag  in  her,  to  command  a 
special  fast  squadron  in  case  of  the  war. 

242 


§1 

O  M 

u 
■v: 


CONVERTING  A  LINER  TO  A  BATTLESHIP 

My  cousin  had  had  the  Oregon's  mizzen -mast- 
head fitted  with  a  semaphore,  the  first  thing  of 
the  kind  aloft  on  a  mast,  and  very  useful  it 
proved.  To  fit  her  as  a  cruiser  over  a  hundred 
cabins  had  been  destroyed  to  provide  coal  armour 
for  the  engines.  The  decks  had  been  strengthened 
as  required  to  mount  the  guns,  and  magazines, 
and  shell  rooms  were  fitted  below  and  lighted 
by  electricity.  An  attempt  was  made  to  protect 
her  steering  gear,  and  other  details  were  attended 
to.  But  you  cannot  make  a  good  fighting  ship 
of  a  fast  modern  passenger  mail  steamer  ;  it  is 
not  possible. 

Now  as  the  Oregon  had  been  got  ready  they 
wished  her  tried,  and  selected  me  to  do  it. 

I  arranged  about  officers  and  men,  and  went 
to  Liverpool  and  commissioned  her.  She  looked 
to  me  a  monster,  and  she  was  so  then,  being 
nearly  considered  what  the  Olympic  is  thought 
now.  Everything  in  this  world  is  comparative, 
and  no  one  can  guess  what  ships  will  be  like  half 
a  century  hence,  of  course  supposing  that  flying 
machines,   &c.,  have  not  superseded  them. 

I  kept  the  first  and  second  officers  and  all 
of  the  engineers,  having  a  naval  one  as  my  staff 
officer.  The  rest  of  the  officers  and  men  were 
all  naval  except  the  stokers.  These  I  entered 
at  Liverpool,  and  a  queer  lot  they  were.  I  put 
them  to  live  in  the  third-class  passenger  saloon, 
which  from  their  usual  quarters  was  much  like 
removing  a  dog  from  its  kennel  to  the  drawing- 
room.  They  were  also  clothed  with  two  suits 
of  sailor's  clothes,  and  really  at  times  they  were 

243  R2 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

clean,  for  the  first  time  probably.  They  had 
not  been  twenty-four  hours  in  the  ship  when  I 
was  told  they  all  insisted  on  leaving  her.  But 
on  being  made  to  fall  in  on  deck  and  confronted 
with  Marines  with  fixed  bayonets  and  ball  cart- 
ridge, order  was  restored. 

I  read  the  Articles  of  War — with  much  unction 
— and  with  subsequent  good  result.  One  of 
their  own  engineers  was  told  off  to  look  after 
them ;  he  had  to  see  their  hammocks  up  in  the 
morning.  One  day  a  stoker  would  not  turn 
out,  and  the  engineer  lowered  his  hammock  down. 
Fearful  language  ensued,  but  no  report  would 
have  been  made  had  not  the  stoker  remembered 
that  profane  oaths,  &c.,  were  contrary  to  the 
articles  of  war,  and  said  he  would  report  the 
engineer  for  using  them ;  the  engineer  then 
remembered  that  '  to  strike  or  offer  to  strike  ' 
vour  superior  officer  was  a  dire  offence,  the 
stoker  having  shaken  his  fist  in  his  face  ;  so 
both  repaired  to  the  quarter-deck,  and  I  fear 
both  my  Commander  and  myself  were  amused  at 
the  proceedings,  though  I  hope  we  did  not  show  it. 

The  Oregon  was  520  feet  long  between  per- 
pendiculars, with  a  single  screw  and  a  very  small 
rudder.  Her  displacement  was  about  12,500 
tons  ;  the  largest  in  the  Navy  then  being  the 
Inflexible  (about  10,000).  I  measured  her  circles 
very  carefully  at  sea  in  calm  weather  :  her  *  tacti- 
cal diameter'  was  2000  yards,  i.e.  about  a  sea 
mile. 

Perhaps  I  should  explain  to  lay  readers  that 
this  means,  that  if  she  was  steering  north,  and 

244 


*  TACTICAL  DIAMETERS ' 

you  put  her  helm  hard  over — either  way — the 
distance  from  the  ship's  beam  at  the  moment  of 
putting  the  helm  over,  to  her  beam  when  her 
head  became  south,  i.e.  when  she  had  turned 
a  half  circle,  would  if  measured  east  and  west 
be  2000  yards.  Ordinary  men-of-war's  tactical 
diameters  are  usually  about  one-third  of  that, 
some  much  less  ;  though  there  have  been  great 
exceptions,  and  I  have  been  told  on  good  authority 
that  the  tactical  diameters  of  the  Warrior  and 
Black  Prince,  two  of  our  earliest  ironclad  ships, 
were  about  1400  yards. 

Of  course  this  turning  question  is  now  all 
quite  modified  and  improved  by  having  twin 
screws  to  use  for  it,  if  necessary.  This  extreme 
unhandiness  matters  comparatively  little  to  an 
Atlantic  liner,  because  she  only  runs  on  a  rail,  as 
it  were,  from  Liverpool  to  New  York  and  back  ; 
and  if  required  to  make  any  sharp  turns  in  or 
out  of  harbour,  can  get  a  tug  to  help  her.  Whereas 
a  man-of-war  never  knows  what  may  be  required, 
and  with  no  help. 

I  used  when  weighing  in  narrow  waters,  with 
the  Oregon's  head  the  wrong  way,  to  snub  her 
bow  round  with  the  cable  before  lifting  the 
anchor,  but  it  is  ticklish  work  not  to  snap  the 
cable. 

We  went  first  to  Portland,  and  from  there 
to  Plymouth,  and  Gibraltar,  and  to  join  the  flag 
of  Admiral  Sir  Geoffrey  Hornby  at  Berehaven. 
This  was  a  large  squadron  assembled  for  the 
first  regular  summer  manoeuvres. 

Admiral  Hornby  was  at  the  time  Commander- 
245 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

in-Chief  at  Portsmouth,   so  this  employment  of 
him  was  very  exceptional. 

At  Berehaven  the  squadron  made  two  booms 
of  a  vast  number  of  spars  lashed  together,  one 
across  the  eastern  entrance  to  the  anchorage, 
and  one  across  the  western  one.  Steel  wire 
hawsers  were  also  employed. 

Boat  attacks  were  made  and  failed,  but  I 
only  wish  to  mention  that  afterwards  the  Poly- 
phemus, a  special  vessel  made  chiefly  to  act  as  a 
ram,  charged  the  eastern  boom  at  her  full  speed, 
say  seventeen  knots.  It  was  an  interesting  trial. 
I  was  watching  carefully  and  considered  that  the 
boom  bent  a  good  deal  and  brought  the  ship's 
way  up  to  about  only  a  third  of  it,  and  then  the 
steel  wire  hawsers,  two  parts  of  5^-inch  wire, 
parted,  the  boom  broke  in  two,  and  the  ship 
got  by  unhurt. 

From  Berehaven  we  went  to  Blacksod  Bay 
on  the  west  coast  of  Ireland,  and  in  Co.  Mayo  ;  a 
real  out-of-the-way  place,  fit  onl}^  for  a  manoeuv- 
ring squadron.  Here  the  Fleet  was  divided  into 
two  sides.  One,  the  enemy,  were  to  try  and  get 
into  the  Clyde,  and  the  other,  the  defence  being 
more  powerful,  to  stop  them  if  they  caught  them. 
We  were  the  defence,  and  when  our  squadron 
went  on  were  left  outside  Blacksod  Bay,  to 
report  when  the  enemy,   our  attackers,   left  it. 

There  ensued  a  very  dark  night,  and  raining 
hard,  during  which  the  enemy,  with  no  lights 
burning,  chanced  it,  and  got  to  sea  without  our 
seeing  them.  When  daylight  da\Mied  we  found 
it  out,  and  our  speed  being  much  greater  than 

246 


LINERS  AS  CRUISERS 

any  other  ship  present,  enabled  us  to  overtake  and 
inform  our  Admiral. 

Finally  the  attack  failed,  their  ships  being 
seen  in  the  narrow  north  channel,  between  the 
Mull  of  Cantyre  and  Fair  Head,  the  north-east 
point  of  Ireland. 

Since  then  we  have  had — as  is  known — many 
manoeuvres,  summer  and  otherwise.  No  doubt 
they  are  useful,  give  much  experience  to  those 
commanding  them,  and  are  a  cause  of  thinking 
out  defence  and  attack  problems,  that  without 
them  would  not  be  well  considered.  Soon  after 
the  above  cruise  it  was  felt  the  Oregon  had  been 
sufficiently  tested  as  a  cruiser,  and  I  paid  her  off 
at  Liverpool,  and  handed  her  back  to  the  Cunard 
Company. 

As  regards  the  question  of  employing  such 
vessels  as  man-of-war  cruisers  in  war  time,  my 
opinion  is  as  follows : 

Advantages  : 

1.  Owing  to  their  great  speed  they  could 
escape  from  most  men-of-war,  and  have  the 
best  chance  of  catching  the  enemy's  mail 
steamers  or  merchant  ships. 

2.  They  would  be  at  once  available  as 
somewhat  armed  troopships. 

Disadvantages  : 

I.  You  cannot  make  them  decent  fighting 
ships,  for  two  great  reasons,  viz.  that  both 
their  steering  gear  and  engines  are  too 
unprotected. 

247 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

2.  They  are  not  handy  enough  for  men-of- 
war's  needs.  Turbine  engines  are  much  lower 
down  and  so  minimise  one  of  the  above  faults, 
but  a  mail  steamer  as  a  good  fighting  ship 
is  an  impossibility. 

I  was  now  on  half-pay  for  nine  months.  For 
a  time  I  was  Chairman  of  an  Admiralty  Committee 
to  revise  naval  officers'  titles,  and  readjust  the 
shares  of  prize  money. 

A  discussion  of  the  above  would  be  tedious 
to  the  general  reader  ;  though  on  the  former  I 
could  make  many  remarks.  As  regards  the  latter, 
the  great  days  of  prize  money  are  probably  gone 
for  ever ;  when  for  instance  Captain  Digby  made 
£'60,000  one  morning.  1  The  proportions  of  prize 
money  must,  I  suppose,  always  remain  as  of  old, 
when  before  the  battle  the  seaman  knelt  down, 
and  prayed  that  the  shot  also  might  be  allotted  in 
proportion  to  the  prize  money. 

I  otherwise  filled  up  my  time  partly  by  trips 
to  France,  sometimes  staying  in  Touraine,  a  part 
of  the  country  I  am  very  fond  of,  and  advise 
others  to  visit,  as  I  have  before  said. 

'  This  remarkable  story  of  his  being  three  times  told  when 
asleep  in  his  cot  to  alter  his  course,  and  doing  so  with  the  result 
of  meeting  the  Spanish  treasure  galleons  at  daylight,  was  told 
me  by  one  of  his  family  as  a  fact  quite  accepted  by  them  as  true. 


248 


CHAPTER  XX 

FLAG-CAPTAIN— NAVAL  RESERVES 

The  old  Victory — The  Queen's  Jubilee — Naval  Manoeuvres — 
Submarine  Boat — Earl  St.  Vincent — Portsmouth — Naval 
Reserves  —  Coastguard  —  Heligoland — The  Hearty  and 
her  Cat  —  Coal  Pit  —  The  Forth  Bridge — Stornoway  — 
Shetland. 

In  May  1886  I  returned  to  England  to  become 
Flag-captain  to  Admiral  Sir  George  Willes  at 
Portsmouth.  He  was  my  captain  when  I  was  a 
lieutenant  in  China  in  two  ships,  and  was  a  strict 
and  very  capable  officer,  and  well  up  in  all  service 
matters. 

The  Admiral's  flag  flew  in  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton and  the  old  Victory  played  only  the  humble 
role  of  tender  to  us.  She  was  of  course  under  my 
care,  and  a  more  rotten  ship  than  she  had  become 
probably  never  flew  the  pennant.  I  could  literally 
run  my  walking  stick  through  her  sides  in  many 
places,  and  her  upper  works  were  mostly  covered 
by  a  waterproof  coat  of  painted  canvas. 

One  night  they  called  me  with  the  news  that 
the  Victory  was  sinking.  We,  of  course,  hurried 
on  board  her,  and  got  all  available  pumps  to  work  ; 

249 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

with  the  result  that  we  kept  her  afloat,  till  she 
could  be  put  into  a  dry  dock,  where  she  was  prac- 
tically a  good  deal  rebuilt,  and  will  now  I  think 
go  on  as  required  for  many  years. 

I  must  here  remark  d  propos  of  the  old  Victory, 
that  the  recent  idea  of  restoring  her  to  look  as 
much  as  possible  as  she  was  at  the  Battle  of 
Trafalgar  should  be  carried  out.  The  late 
Commander-in-Chief  at  Portsmouth,  Sir  Arthur 
Fanshawe,  took  much  interest  in  this,  and  did 
what  he  could  towards  it.  The  expense  of  doing 
what  would  make  a  great  show  would,  I  believe,  be 
only  a  few  thousand  pounds. 

Mr.  Maxim,  now  Sir  Hiram,  brought  his 
automatic  machine  gun  to  Whale  Island  to  be 
tested ;  he  let  me  work  it  at  one  time  and  said  to 
me :  '  You  see,  sir,  you  can  set  this  gun  going, 
then  go  into  a  house  and  have  a  gin  sling,  and 
come  out  and  find  a  hundred  men  lying  dead 
in  the  avenue.' 

The  duties  of  flag-captain  at  Portsmouth  were 
very  varied,  but  not  onerous.  Putting  out  fires 
even  on  shore  came  into  them,  and  very  useful  our 
men  were  on  one  or  two  occasions.  A  real  seaman 
is  useful  everywhere,  and  has  well  earned  his  name 
of  the  *  Handy  man.' 

I  went  to  inspect  the  Naval  Prison  at  Lewes, 
and  found  out  that  the  young  active  seaman, 
with  a  good  appetite,  prefers  hard  labour,  with  more 
food,  to  its  alternative.  At  that  time  the  service 
was  a  good  deal  '  sheep  '  and  *  goats  ' ;  the  former 
to  become  seamen,  gunners,  &c.,  went  to  the 
Excellent,  while   the    '  goats  '    came  to  me  ;     and 

250 


QUEEN  VICTORIA'S  JUBILEE 

acted  according  to  their  title.  Leave-breaking 
was  the  most  common  offence,  and  for  this  stoppage 
of  pay  was  the  most  effective  restraining  measure. 

In  1887  was  the  Queen's  Jubilee.  As  an  official 
I  had  a  place  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and  think  I 
never  felt  a  more  affecting  sensation  than  when 
her  Majesty  walked  down  the  aisle,  while  *  God 
save  the  Queen  '  was  sung.  It  was  difficult  for 
anyone  to  keep  from  tears. 

Of  course  people  differ  immeasurably  in  their 
love — as  in  their  knowledge — of  music,  but  I 
believe  it  has  an  effect  on  the  nerves  of  the  brain 
in  everyone.  I  have  seen  a  dog  sit  up  and  howl 
when  a  musical  instrument  was  played  close  to 
him  ;  this,  however,  is  perhaps  departing  from 
the  sublime,  and  not  a  compliment  to  the 
player. 

The  Queen's  Jubilee  of  1887  I  think  stirred  the 
nation  more  than  that  of  1897,  because  it  was 
much  more  of  a  novelty  to  everyone  ;  few  remem- 
bering 1810  !  Our  Queen,  too,  was  able  herself  to 
play  a  more  prominent  part. 

I  commissioned  my  old  ship  the  Inflexible  for 
the  Jubilee  review  and  subsequent  naval  man- 
oeuvres ;  we  first  went  to  Portland  to  shake  down 
into  order,  and  then  to  Spithead  for  the  review. 
At  Portland  I  went  over  the  convict  prison  there ; 
it  boasts  having  hardly  ever  had  an  escape  from 
it,  but  a  French  prisoner  once  got  clear  away,  it  is 
thought  by  boat. 

The  Chief  Warder  amused  us  by  lamenting  the 
decline  of  the  apparent  popularity  of  the  pro- 
fession of  convict.     He  said  also  that  the  long- 

251 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

sentence  ones  look  down  on  tlie  short-sentence 
prisoners  as  an  inferior  order  of  beings. 

At  Spithead  on  19th  July  the  Queen  passed 
through  the  Fleet  on  her  way  to  Osborne,  being 
received  with  full  honours ;  and  I  believe  with  the 
officers  in  full  dress  (on  her  Majesty  passing  in  her 
yacht),  for  the  first  time  since  the  death  of  the 
Prince  Consort. 

The  Crown  Prince  and  Princess — afterwards  the 
Emperor  Frederick  and  his  Empress — with  their 
three  daughters,  came  on  board  my  ship  quite  sud- 
denly one  day  to  see  her.  Nothing  could  exceed 
their  natural  charm  and  pleasant  graciousness, 
especially  that  of  the  Crown  Princess,  who  went 
round  all  the  principal  parts  of  the  ship  with  me. 

We  now  became  flagship  of  Sir  George  \\'illes 
for  the  review,  which  took  place  on  23rd  July. 
The  Queen  passed  through  the  lines  in  her  yacht, 
and  then  anchored  for  all  the  admirals  and  captains 
to  come  on  board  and  be  presented  to  her ;  and  in 
the  evening  the  whole  Fleet  was  illuminated, 
and  had  fireworks.  This  is  a  matter  much  better 
done  now,  owing  to  our  improved  electric  lighting 
system. 

After  this  all  the  ships  went  to  sea  for  a  cruise  ; 
that  was  followed  by  manoeuvres,  the  idea  being 
that  the  defending  fleet  was  to  prevent  the  other 
from  entering  the  Channel  and  passing  up  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames,  which  they  did,  and  so  won. 

The  Inflexible  was  soon  after  this  paid  off  again, 
and  I  rejoined  the  Duke  of  Wellington. 

In  1887  I  went  to  Southampton  to  see  Mr. 
Nordenfelt's    submarine    torpedo-boat,    quite    a 

252 


THE  FIRST  SUBMARINE  TORPEDO-BOAT 

novelty  to  me  then.  She  was  of  steel,  in  shape  a 
cylinder,  quite  round  amidships  and  elongated  at 
the  ends.  She  was  125  feet  long  and  her  greatest 
diameter  12  feet ;  she  was  of  190  tons  displace- 
ment. To  sink  her,  forty  tons  of  water  were  let 
in,  added  to  which  two  down-driving  horizontal 
screws  when  at  work  kept  her  under  water.  She 
was  propelled  by  a  single  screw,  and  could  go 
under  water  twenty  miles  at  five  knots,  having  a 
reserve  of  steam  from  a  special  boiler :  this  we  were 
TOLD.  She  had  two  torpedo-tubes  in  the  bow,  one 
over  the  other.  She  must  be  kindly  regarded  as 
the  forerunner  or  parent  of  the  present  submarine. 

The  Sailors'  Home  in  Portsea  was  much  en- 
larged while  I  was  there.  I  was  ex-of!icio  Chairman 
of  the  Committee,  and  gave  a  cabin  to  it  to  be 
called  the  St.  Vincent  cabin,  as  I  have  great 
admiration  for  that  iron-willed  disciplinarian,  who 
kept  down  the  seamen's  mutiny  in  his  own  fleet 
in  1797  off  Cadiz.  The  story  is  shortly  as 
follows  : 

H.M.S.  Marlborough  had  just  joined  the  fleet 
from  home,  a  mutiny  had  broken  out  on  board  her, 
and  a  court  martial  had  condemned  a  seaman 
to  be  hanged  for  it.  Her  Captain  then  told 
Lord  St.  Vincent  that  his  ship's  company  would 
not  permit  the  man  to  be  hanged  on  board  that 
ship,  or  at  least  that  his  own  crew  would  not  do 
it.  The  Admiral  replied  that  the  man  should  be 
hanged  at  eight  o'clock  the  next  morning,  and 
only  by  his  own  shipmates. 

General  orders  were  then  given  for  the  Marl- 
borough to  be  anchored  in  the  middle  of  the  fleet, 

253 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

her  guns  to  be  run  in  and  her  gun  ports  closed  and 
secured.  Armed  boats  from  all  the  other  ships 
were  placed  in  position  to  rake  her  with  their  fire, 
and  to  sink  her  if  required,  which  the  other  ships 
should  assist  in  doing.  At  7.30  a.m.  next  day  all 
hands  in  the  fleet  were  turned  up  to  witness  the 
execution. 

The  excitement  was  great,  but  at  eight  o'clock 
when  a  gun  was  fired  from  the  Ville  de  Paris,  Lord 
St.  Vincent's  flagship,  the  man  was  triced  up  to 
the  yardarm  of  the  Marlborough  by  his  own 
shipmates  and  hanged,  and  *  The  Earl '  (as  Nelson 
usually  called  him)  then  said,  '  Discipline  is  pre- 
served.' It  is  in  my  opinion  among  the  finest 
episodes  in  our  Navy.  And  is  not  this  real  praise 
of  Earl  St.  Vincent  ? — '  that  he  was  the  tutor  of 
Nelson,  he  taught  and  formed  him — he  made  him 
greater  than  himself,  and  then  did  not  envy  him.'  ^ 

The  great  form  of  Nelson,  whose  meteor-like 
career  closed  with  a  bright  additional  blaze  at 
Trafalgar,  has  eclipsed  the  fame  of  all  other 
naval  officers.  But  for  solid  service  rendered  to 
his  country,  both  at  sea  and  on  shore,  in  days  of 
difficulty,  and  periods  of  peril,  the  name  of  St. 
Vincent  must  to  those  who  study  naval  history 
always  stand  forth  prominently. 

But  I  must  not  linger  longer  at  Portsmouth, 
which  place  perhaps  many  look  on  only  as  the 
best  known,  or  most  visited  by  tourists,  of  our 
naval  ports.  Its  history,  however,  is  of  much 
interest,  without  going  back  to  the  Roman  times, 
about  which  details  are  doubtful.     I  believe  the 

'  See  Tucker's  Life  of  the  Earl  St.  Vincent,  vol.  ii.  p.  252. 


NAVAL  RESERVE  OFFICES 

fortifications  were  begun  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 
The  oldest  dock  is  the  one  near  the  Admiral-Super- 
intendent's office. 

I  was  next  appointed  Captain,  assistant  to 
the  Admiral-Superintendent  of  Naval  Reserves. 
I  was  sorry  to  leave  my  Admiral  at  Ports- 
mouth, and  loath  to  leave  all  that  was  sea-life 
about  it  ;  but  I  felt  that  short  of  going  to  sea, 
which  is  always  the  best  thing,  a  new  experi- 
ence was  desirable.  I  have  often  felt  that  you 
rarely  know  really  what  you  have  learnt  in  a  given 
phase  of  your  life,  because  you  forget  how  much 
less  you  knew  when  you  began  it. 

In  December  1887  I  took  up  my  new  appoint- 
ment, the  Naval  Reserve  offices  being  in  Spring 
Gardens,  but  the  house  is  now  destroyed.  They 
were  very  old  fashioned  and  barely  sanitary. 

The  inspections  of  the  Coastguard  stations 
from  the  head  office  in  London  are  made  mostly  by 
the  Admiral-Superintendent  himself;  it  happened, 
however,  while  I  was  there  as  captain  that,  owing 
to  an  accident  to  the  Admiral,  I  had  to  make  a  good 
many  inspections,  and  among  them  to  visit  and 
inspect  Heligoland,  which  then  belonged  to  us. 

Since  our  acquisition  of  it,  from  Denmark  in 
1807,  we  had  not  taken  much  trouble  either  to 
fortify  it  or  make  a  harbour.  It  is  very  small,  only 
three-quarters  of  a  square  mile  in  area,  and  is 
mostly  a  small  high  plateau  off  which  the  frequent 
strong  winds  threaten  to  blow  the  unwary  pedes- 
trian. Fishing  was  its  chief  industry,  and  about 
30,000   lobsters   have   been   got   in   the   summer 

255 


MY   NAVAL    CAREER 

months  ;  and  probably  eaten  also,  by  the  15,000 
German  visitors  who  came  to  bathe  there. 

No  doubt  it  is  very  healthy — the  wind  I  suppose 
blows  the  ubiquitous  microbe  away  ;  the  average 
human  life  was  said  to  be  63  years,  but  whether 
it  was  worth  while  to  live  in  such  a  monotonous 
place  in  order  to  eke  out  one's  life  is  a  question. 
The  Governor  said  it  was  a  sort  of  Teuton  Gretna 
Green  ;  ardent  couples  running  over  from  the 
Continent  to  be  married  at  the  Lutheran  Church 
here. 

Germany  is,  of  course,  making  it  a  war  station, 
which  we  should  never  have  done.  H.M.S.  Hearty 
conveyed  me  there  and  back.  She  was  built  for  a 
river  Hoogly  tugboat.  The  officers'  accommo- 
dation was  right  forward,  in  the  bows,  and  the 
men  were  aft. 

Coming  back  we  had  a  gale  of  wind  in  our 
teeth,  the  ship  pitched  heavily,  and  every  officer 
but  the  captain  was  down  with  sea  sickness, 
I  for  one.  In  the  Hearty  they  had  a  cat,  about 
Which  the  following  story  was  told,  and  vouched 
for  by  both  officers  and  men. 

The  ship  was  lying  in  the  harbour  and  the  tide 
was  out;  it  was  a  Sunday  about  11  a.m.,  when  a 
cat  was  seen  to  walk  down  to  the  shore  abreast 
of  the  ship,  unpursued  b}^  persons  or  dogs,  wade 
through  the  mud,  take  to  the  water,  and  swim 
off  to  the  Hearty,  where  it,  of  course,  received  a 
welcome  worthy  of  the  ship's  name,  and  joined 
the  crew. 

Travelling  along  the  north-east  coast  of  Eng- 
land and  east  of    Scotland  in  a  snowy  winter,  I 

256 


FORTH  BRIDGE 

was  kept  at  Sunderland  by  the  snow  and  went 
down  the  Monkswearmouth  coal  pit.  It  is  1800 
feet  deep  and  runs  out  under  the  sea ;  at  its  ex- 
tremity there  is  a  large  pool  of  water  which  is 
three  times  as  salt  as  the  sea,  from  evaporation  of 
course.  The  thermometer  was  about  90°  in  the 
mine,  and  the  contrast  to  it  on  the  surface,  covered 
with  frozen  snow,  from  which  you  descended  in 
one  and  a  half  minutes,  was  great.  I  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  if  I  had  to  be  a  labouring  man 
at  Sunderland,  I  would  be  miner  in  winter  and 
fisherman  in  summer. 

The  wonderful  Forth  Railway  cantilever  bridge 
was  being  built  when  I  was  there;  they  showed 
me  over  it,  and  let  me  walk  over  the  highest  parts 
of  the  piers,  370  feet  above  the  water.  They  said 
six  million  rivets  were  driven  in  the  bridge.  The 
rails  have  to  be  *  tongued  '  to  allow  of  the  expan- 
sion and  contraction,  for  changes  of  temperature, 
and  where  the  spans  join  fifteen  inches  as  an 
extreme  has  to  be  allowed  for.  I  asked  how 
many  fatal  accidents  had  occurred  to  the  work- 
men :   but  that  was  a  secret. 

The  then  recent  terrible  accident  to  a  train 
on  the  Tay  Bridge  made  one  apprehensive  about 
the  effect  of  a  very  strong  wind  on  so  exposed  a 
structure,  but  of  this  they  had  no  fear.  Experi- 
ments made  had  shown  that  the  presence  of  wind 
is  happily  not  uniform  over  a  large  area,  but  that 
the  wind  currents  are  restricted  to  small  surface 
spaces,  and  differ  a  good  deal,  as  pressing  on  a 
large  perpendicular  erection.  Thus  a  wind  gauge 
might  show  a  pressure  of  wind  at  one  spot  much 

257  s 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

in  excess  of  what  another  a  very  few  feet  off 
showed  at  the  same  moment.  As  an  instance 
of  this,  a  large  gauge  of  300  square  feet  area  showed 
a  maximum  average  pressure  of  only  27  lbs.  on  the 
square  foot  ;  while  a  small  gauge,  near  to,  showed 
at  the  same  moment  a  pressure  of  41  lbs. 

On  the  shore  on  the  north  side  of  the  bridge, 
it  was  curious  to  see  how  the  sloping  field,  on  which 
an  embankment  had  to  be  made,  had  given  way  and 
been  turned  from  a  smooth  slope  to  a  sort  of  ridge 
and  furrow,  as  the  weight  of  earth  was  put  on  to  it. 

My  duty  was,  of  course,  to  inspect  the  Coast- 
guard, and  the  Royal  Naval  Reserve  Batteries. 
I  went  on  North,  now  and  then  in  a  sleigh,  and 
crossed  Scotland,  then  under  snow  from  Inverness 
to  Strome  Ferry  ;  most  people  only  know  it  in  the 
autumn,  but  in  its  winter  coat  it  looks  most  like 

*  Caledonia  stern  and  wild,'  &c.  Then  on  by  a 
small  steamer  to  Stornoway,  where  the  Matheson 
family  have  spent  so  much  money  on  the  ungrateful 

*  Crofters.'  The  Hebrides  certainly  produce  for 
their  size  a  numerous  population  of  fine-looking 
people,  but  I  have  great  doubts  about  the  Naval 
Reserve  men  there  being  of  much  practical  value 
to  us. 

A  crofter's  hut  is  a  wretched  hovel,  with  an  ill- 
thatched  roof ;  inside  one  half  is  occupied  by  cattle 
and  fowls,  the  floor  is  the  natural  earth,  one  door 
for  both  bipeds  and  quadrupeds,  a  turf  fire  in  the 
middle,  no  chimney,  a  chain  from  the  roof  to 
hang  the  cooking-pot  on,  bed  places  in  bunks  at 
the  sides.  Then  many  of  the  older  people  only 
spoke  Gaelic,  but  this  was  likely  to  change. 

258 


ORKNEYS  AND  SHETLAND 

I  visited  the  Orkneys  and  Shetland  Islands 
to  inspect.  They  are,  of  course,  dreary  in  winter, 
as  this  was,  but  except  that  the  length  of  the 
days,  of  course,  varies  more  than  in  lower  latitudes, 
there  is  really  not  so  much  change  from  summer 
to  winter  as  regards  the  temperature  as  with  us, 
because  the  sea  and  the  gulf  stream  affect  that 
so  much. 

Shetland  shawls,  &c.,  are,  of  course,  well 
known  and  liked.  The  sheep  they  are  made 
from  have  very  line  fleeces,  and  their  wool  (or  hair 
you  may  almost  call  it)  is  plucked  from  them 
and  not  shorn.  They  are  smaller  than  South- 
down sheep,  and  of  various  colours  ;  I  have  seen 
black,  white  and  grey  ones. 

In  July  1889  I  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  Rear-Admiral  and  therefore  placed  on  half- 
pay.  I  was  forty-nine  years  old  and  had  been 
a  captain  for  about  sixteen  and  a  half  years. 
Now  officers  are  less  than  ten  years  captain. 


259  3  2 


CHAPTER  XXI 


REAR-ADMIR.\L 


France  —  Russia  —  Caspian  Sea  —  Caucasus  —  Taganrog — Sevais- 
topol — Odessa. 

It  was  quite  uncertain  when — if  ever — I  should 
be  employed  and  hoist  my  flag,  so  I  had  to  con- 
sider how  best  to  occupy  myself.  First  I  went 
to  France,  and  moving  about  in  Brittany  visited 
Brest  and  L'Orient. 

Brest  is  certainly  a  first-class  naval  port,  by 
nature.  It  is  so  thoroughly  sheltered  from  the 
sea  and  from  the  enemy  by  its  long  '  Goulet.'  I 
got  into  one  of  their  signal  stations,  then  very 
superior  to  ours. 

While  staying  at  Trez  Hir,  with  some  rela- 
tions, we  visited  the  Isle  of  Ushant.  Of  the  two 
lighthouses  one  was  electric,  and  one  not ;  we 
were  told  that  the  latter — not  electric — best 
penetrated  a  fog. 

I  went  to  see  my  old  Port  Said  friend  Admiral 
Conrad,  who  was  Port  Admiral  at  L'Orient,  and 
he  told  me  of  the  following  sad  and  curious 
occurrence. 

A  picnic  party  of  both  sexes  went  to  have 
260 


TOUR  IN  RUSSIA 

dejeuner  on  the  sea-shore  near  there,  at  a  place 
where  the  nearly  flat  sand  had  some  large  rocks 
scattered  about  on  it.  The  tide  was  low,  the 
day  fine. 

Preparing  their  food  they  found  themselves 
short  of  something — say,  water — and  one  of  the 
party  went  off  to  the  nearest  house  to  get  it.  On 
his  return  he  could  not  find  his  friends.  At 
first  he  thought  they  had  as  a  joke  hidden  behind 
the  rocks  ;  but  at  last  the  terrible  truth  appeared, 
viz.  that  an  abnormal  wave— one  of  those  most 
wrongly  called  '  tidal ' — had  broken  on  the  beach, 
and  had  overwhelmed  and  drowned  them  all. 

One  often  now  hears  such  waves  reported  as 
being  met  with  at  sea — '  seismic  '  would  be  a 
good  name  for  them  ;  they  are,  I  suppose,  caused 
either  by  submarine  volcanoes  or  earthquakes. 

I  had  long  \\dshed  to  visit  Russia,  and  in 
August  left  with  a  cousin  to  do  so.  We  crossed 
to  Flushing  and  went  on  by  rail  to  Petersburg. 
I  think  the  three  impressions  one  must  form  of 
Russia  are :  its  space,  its  solitude,  and  its  sadness. 

Petersburg  is  too  well  known  for  me  to  describe 
it.  I  dined  with  our  Ambassador,  Sir  Robert 
Morier,  and  for  the  first  time  saw  the  Russian 
custom  of  *  Zakousca,'  i.e.  that  on  entering  the 
dining-room  you  take  your  partner  first  to  the 
sideboard,  where  caviare,  dried  fish,  strong 
drinks,  vodka,  &c.,  await  you  as  a  preparation 
for  dinner. 

We  visited  Cronstadt  and  I  refreshed  my 
memory  about  the  Baltic  War  in  1854-5.  I 
believe  that  in  1854  the  allied  fleets  could  have 

261 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

attacked  Cronstadt  on  its  in-shore  side  with  good 
chance  of  success. 

I  was  told  that  in  1854  the  Emperor,  watcliing 
one  of  our  steamers  reconnoitring  on  that  side, 
said :  '  She  wiU  soon  run  aground  on  the  barrier 
I  have  had  put  to  prevent  attack  on  that  side.' 
She  did  not  because  it  had  not  been  put,  though 
paid  for.  Next  winter  it  was  put,  and  the  condi- 
tions were  altered. 

We  stayed  at  the  Hotel  de  France,  and  there 
got  a  Russian  who  spoke  French  as  our  courier, 
in  place  of  an  impostor  from  London.  Beyond 
Petersburg  a  knowledge  of  Russian  or  an  inter- 
preter was  necessary  to  travellers. 

I  was  much  interested  at  seeing,  and  having 
described  to  me  on  the  spot,  the  murder  of  the 
Czar  Alexander  II  in  1881.  He  was  driving 
along  the  quay  of  a  canal  in  Petersburg  in  a 
brougham  with  one  A.D.C.,  when  a  man  threw 
a  bomb  at  the  carriage ;  the  bomb  burst  between 
the  hind  wheels  and  the  shock  unseated  the 
Emperor  and  his  A.D.C.,  but  did  not  hurt  them 
or  disable  the  carriage. 

The  coachman  pulled  up  and  the  occupants 
got  out.  The  would-be  assassin  was  seized.  The 
coachman  said,  '  If  3'our  Majesty  will  get  in  I  can 
drive  you  to  the  Palace,'  but  the  Czar  decided  to 
walk.  He  had  not  gone  many  \'ards  when  a 
man  leaning  against  the  low  parapet  darted 
forward  and  flung  a  bomb  at  the  Emperor's 
feet,  which  burst  and  mortally  wounded  him,  the 
assassin  being  also  killed  by  it.  And  this  was 
the  end  of  Alexander  the  liberator  of  the  serfs. 

262 


MOSCOW 

I  think  the  equestrian  statue  of  Peter  the  Great, 
his  horse  treading  on  a  snake,  as  spirited  as  any 
I  know. 

We  went  to  Moscow,  by  the  Une  made  nearly 
straight  in  obedience  to  H.M.  Nicholas's  route 
as  drawn  out  with  a  ruler  on  the  map.  Peters- 
burg is  half  Russian,  half  French,  but  Moscow  is 
Moscov.  One  should  regard  it  from  the  Sparrow 
Hills,  on  its  south-west  side,  and  think  of  Napoleon 
doing  so  in  1812,  and  his  army  shouting  for  joy, 
not  guessing  what  would  follow. 

The  Kremlin  is,  of  course,  the  chief  attraction, 
and  it  is  there  you  are  impressed  with  the  Asiatic 
characteristics  of  Russia.  Here  among  other 
trophies  are  some  of  our  field-pieces  taken  from 
the  Turks  in  the  Crimea  in  1854.  There  are 
some  700  guns  of  various  other  nations. 

The  great  foundling  hospital  in  Moscow  is 
interesting.  It  was  instituted  by  Catherine  II 
in  1763  to  check  infanticide.  All  babies  are 
received  ;  it  had  about  iioo  children  when  I  was 
there.  In  the  wards  some  very  delicate  infants 
were  in  hot  boxes,  reminding  one  of  incubators 
for  hens'  eggs.  During  Napoleon's  occupation 
in  1812  it  still  went  on,  and  some  of  his  orders 
are  shown  you.  Moscow  is  very  noisy,  both  on 
account  of  its  many  bells  and  the  stony 
streets. 

The  Russians  are  a  very  religious  nation  ;  for 
one  thing  it  is  striking  to  see  the  droskhy  drivers 
taking  off  their  hats  or  crossing  themselves  on 
passing  certain  sacred  spots  or  pictures.  The 
Russian  riding  school  at  Moscow  impressed  me; 

263 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

it  is  said  to  have  been,  when  built,  the  largest 
area  building,  unsupported  inside.  It  is  560  feet 
long  by  158  feet  wide.  In  every  shop  is  an  icon, 
in  respect  to  which  you  should  take  off  your  hat 
on  entering. 

We  went  on  to  Nijni  Novgorod,  where  the 
great  annual  fair  everyone  has  heard  of  was  in 
progress.  Here  you  see  men  and  costumes  from 
many  parts  of  Asia,  and  the  most  extraordinary 
contrasts  of  goods  for  sale,  Persian  carpets  in 
the  same  stall  side  by  side  with  English  toys, 
such  as  Ally  Sloper,  and  men  on  bicycles.  The 
contrast  struck  me  as  sad  somehow,  rather  than 
ludicrous.  At  our  hotel  here  none  of  the  officials 
or  servants  spoke  anything  but  Russian,  and 
this  we  found  the  case  at  many  other  places. 

We  left  Nijni  in  the  Grand  Duke  Vladimir,  a 
steamer  of  the  Caucasus  and  Mercury  Steamship 
Company,  to  descend  the  Volga  to  Astrakhan. 
She  was  a  paddle-wheel  vessel  280  feet  long, 
speed  nearly  12  knots ;  burnt  oil,  i.e.  the  refuse 
of  naphtha  after  petroleum  had  been  extracted 
from  it.  It  was  my  first  experience  of  such  fuel, 
but  now  we  are  used  to  it.  This  came,  of  course, 
from  Baku. 

The  stokehold  surprised  me — clean  and  quiet ; 
and  to  take  in  fuel  a  trough  was  placed  sloping 
down  to  the  ship's  tanks,  and  a  liquid  like  chocolate 
ran  down  till  the  tanks  were  full — no  labour, 
no  noise,  no  dirt.  Luxurious  !  There  were  few 
passengers,  but  much  card-playing.  The  captain 
was  a  retired  naval  officer. 

The  Volga  has  many  shoals  ;  soundings  w'ere 
264 


ON  THE  VOLGA— ASTRAKHAN 

got  by  a  man  with  a  long  pole  in  the  bows ;  the 
Russian  fathom  is  the  same  as  ours. 

One  of  our  fellow-passengers  was  an  artillery 
officer  who  had  served  in  Sevastopol  during  the 
siege  ;  he  was  then  a  gunner  only,  and  was  pro- 
moted from  the  ranks.  He  told  me  General 
Todleben  often  visited  his  *  Bastion,'  and  had  a 
habit  of  asking  the  opinion  of  the  men  about 
matters  concerning  the  battery,  guns,  embrasures, 
Sec,  to  see  if  they  could  give  him  valuable  hints. 

The  scenery  on  the  Volga  is  not  as  a  rule 
beautiful.  You  see  much  timber  growing  on 
both  banks,  too  much  for  beauty. 

We  stopped  at  many  places,  the  principal  being 
Kazan  (a  town  of  140,000  people),  Saratov,  and 
Tsaritzin.  At  these  places  you  get  an  idea  of 
what  Russia  is  like.  I  have  seen  towns  with  the 
streets  fifty  yards  wide  and  more,  but  left  in  their 
natural  state  ;  one  can  imagine  what  traffic  and 
rain  make  them  like,  and  see  why  Russians  as 
a  rule  wear  long  boots,  coming  up  to  their  knees. 

At  Astrakhan  we  changed  steamers  to  one 
called  the  Constantine.  Astrakhan  is  a  flourish- 
ing place,  about  fifty-three  miles  from  the  Caspian  ; 
the  town  was  lighted  with  electric  light,  then 
very  rare  in  England.  There  were  many  camels, 
covered  with  long  hair,  and  much  handsomer 
than  any  I  had  ever  before  seen. 

We  went  down  the  Caspian  to  Baku,  of  which 
place  you  can  smell  the  oil  two  or  three  miles 
off.  It  was  very  hot  when  we  got  there  ;  the 
very  streets  might  be  said  to  be  *  watered  '  with 
oil,  and  the  sea  was  covered  with  a  good  film  of 

265 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

it — in  a  calm  I  believe  you  could  light  up  the 
surface.  I  bathed  in  it,  and  when  one  came  up 
after  diving  in,  one  had  a  cheap  oil  dressing  on 
one's  hair.  The  oil  '  wells/  or  rather  oil  fountains, 
look  like  trees  of  chocolate,  and  the  froth  like 
milk. 

The  ground  is  soaked  with  oil,  which  is  said  to 
be  very  good  for  chest  complaints.  Sometimes 
these  fountains  catch  lire,  and  they  must  be  left 
to  burn  out — a  great  loss  of  money.  I  was  told 
that  three  years  before  one  caught  fire  and  burnt 
for  three  days,  its  flames  rising  to  900  feet  :  a 
splendid  sight  to  all  but  its  owners. 

The  Caspian  is  about  83  feet  below  the  level  of 
the  Black  Sea,  and  is,  I  believe,  getting  lower. 
Its  water  is  brackish,  but  not  nearly  so  salt  as 
the  ocean. 

From  Baku  we  went  by  train  to  Tifiis.  All  the 
locomotive  engines  about  here  burn  oil.  Tifiis, 
the  capital  of  Georgia,  is  very  picturesque,  in  an 
accentuated  way — that  is,  with  ravines  and 
precipices.  We  arrived  just  in  time  for  the 
opening  of  the  Exhibition  of  Caucasus  produc- 
tions by  the  Grand  Duke  ]\Iichael,  so  the  town 
was  en  fete  ;  but  at  any  time  it  would  excite 
interest  compared  to  most  other  places. 

From  Tifiis  we  drove  across  the  Caucasus  range 
to  Vladikafkas.  The  scenery  is  very  fine.  One 
afternoon  we  encountered  the  heaviest  hail- 
storm I  ever  saw  ;  stones  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
across  were  very  plentiful,  and  I  picked  up  one,  half 
an  hour  after  it  fell,  that  ^^'as  b^^  measurement 
over  one  and  a  half  inches  across. 

266 


ROSTOV  AND  TAGANROG 

At  Vladikafkas  we  took  the  train  to  Rostov 
on  the  Don.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  at  a 
station  the  train  was  attacked  by  brigands  who 
shot  the  engine-driver,  and  carried  off  a  sum  of 
money  known  to  be  in  the  train,  but  did  not  rob 
the   passengers. 

Rostov  has  a  population  of  70,000,  but  though 
we  tried  we  could  see  very  little  of  it,  as  a  very 
bad  dust  storm  was  blowing,  the  worst,  I  think, 
I  have  experienced  except  in  North  China. 

Next  we  visited  Taganrog  on  the  Sea  of  Azov, 
in  the  '  fragrant  gardens  '  of  which  Alexander  I  is 
reported  to  have  died  in  1825.  The  death  chamber 
is  said  to  be  much  as  then  ;  we  saw  it,  and  an 
old  grandfather  clock,  not  going,  which  is  supposed 
to  have  stopped  when  the  Czar  died. 

Herein  the  Cathedral  we  saw  the  ensign  of  H.M. 
Gunboat  Jasper,  lost  near  here  in  the  war  in  1855. 
Our  Consul,  Mr.  W.  G.  Wagstaffe,  who  was  a 
naval  officer,  had  been  many  years  here,  and 
spoke  Russian  perfectly.  He  believes  that  the 
Sea  of  Azov  has  a  double  bottom,  as  suggested 
off  Port  Said.i  I  believe  this  sea  is  certainly 
getting   shallower  steadily. 

The  climate  of  Taganrog  is  trying,  very  hot 
in  summer,  and  with  bitter  cold  winds  from  the 
east  in  winter  ;  it  is  almost  incredible  how  much 
milder  the  south  of  the  Crimea  is,  and  only  350 
miles  off. 

We  left  by  steamer  for  Kcrtch,  and  with  us  was 
a  man  in  deep  mourning  with  his  two  small  sons, 
about  whom  I  was  told  this  story  by  our  Consul. 

'  See  page  227. 
267 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

In  the  Taganrog  Club,  at  baccara  one  night 
he  lost  £25,000,  also  his  town  liouse  and  his 
country  house.  He  was  nearly  mad,  and  then 
staked  his  wife,  a  young  and  pretty  woman,  and 
lost  again.  He  then  by  agreement  had  to  give 
his  latch-key  to  the  winner,  and  not  himself  go 
home.  The  winner  went  there,  but  roused  the 
servants,  insisted  on  seeing  the  lady,  told  her 
the  story  and  left  the  house.  The  wife  became 
ill  and  shortly  died. 

From  Kertch  we  went  to  Yalta,  the  Russian 
Riviera,  a  delightful  place  with  first-class  hotels. 
We  visited  the  Czar's  domain  at  Livadia,  and 
went  on  to  Sevastopol.  It  seemed  to  me  very 
odd,  with  m}^  former  experience,  to  be  quietly 
staying  in  this  place  in  an  hotel,  which  had 
actually  been  the  house  of  Admiral  Nachimoff, 
and  in  which  he  died  after  being  struck  with  a 
piece  of  shell  on  the  Malakoff. 

We  spent  several  days  here,  and  visited  the 
neighbourhood.  Our  Consul,  Captain  Harford, 
was  most  kind  and  useful.  He  had  been  over 
twenty  years  Consul  here,  and  was  so  fond  of 
the  Russians  that  in  1878  he  resigned  his 
commission  and  joined  them  in  their  war 
against  Turkey.  After  that  war  was  over  our 
Government  reinstated  him  as  Consul. 

The  Russian  Government  gave  General  Todle- 
ben  a  house  in  Sevastopol,  which  he  presented  to 
the  town,  and  it  is  now  a  museum  of  the  siege. 
In  it  you  may  see  plans  and  models  of  the  forts, 
bastions,  and  lines,  of  the  place  during  the  great 
siege,    together    with    endless    interesting    relics. 

268 


SEVASTOPOL 

I  have  known  many  Russian  officers,  and  seldom 
one  unwilling  to  talk  of  the  defence  of  that  place, 
of  which  they  are  very  justly  proud. 

Count  Tolstoy's  work  called  '  Sevastopol '  is 
most  graphic  in  its  descriptions  of  life  in  the 
town  during  the  siege,  and  Russian  officers  then 
there,  to  whom  I  have  talked,  agree  to  its 
correctness.  In  these  long-range  gun-fire  days 
that  place  shares  the  fault  of  Malta,  and  other 
sea  garrisons. 

As  regards  the  climate  of  Sevastopol,  the  two 
winters  of  the  Crimean  War  were  very  exception- 
ally cold.  Captain  Harford  said  he  had  never,  if 
at  all,  seen  one  like  those,  he  having  also  been 
there  during  the  siege. 

On  17th  October,  early,  I  swam  about  the  har- 
bour till  tired,  not  cold  ;  and  I  could  never  do 
that  in  the  sea  in  England  in  October. 

When  the  Russian  officers  heard  I  had  been  in 
action  on  the  first  day  of  the  actual  siege,  viz.  our 
17th  October  (then  their  5th)  they  invited  me  to 
stay  and  take  part  in  the  regular  celebrations, 
and  I  accepted. 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  we  went  to  a 
service  in  the  crypt  of  the  Church  of  St.  Vladimir, 
which  has  been  built  as  a  memorial  of  the  siege,  and 
in  the  crypt  is  the  tomb  of  the  four  Admirals — 
Lazaref,  Cornilov,  Nachimoff  and  Istomin  ;  the 
three  last  were  all  killed  on  the  Malakoff  during 
the  siege.  1 

'  The  Malakoff  is  Bastion  No.  2  of  Tolstoy's  book.  The 
bastions  were  numbered  in  order  from  one  on  the  Russian  left 
next  to  the  Grand  Harbour. 

269 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

The  banquet  was  in  the  drawing-room  of  the 
Naval  Chib,  the  only  dinner  ever  held  in  that 
room,  and  only  officers  who  were  in  action  on  the 
first  day  could  attend  it.  Our  Consul  had  fought 
in  the  siege,  but  his  regiment  did  not  arrive 
till  after  the  17th,  so  he  could  not  come. 

It  was  a  curious  experience,  I  representing  the 
enemy ;  we  sat  down  fourteen  in  number.  One  said  : 
*  At  this  date  and  hour,  in  1854,  I  remember  this 
room  full  of  wounded  and  dying  men.'  I  was  the 
youngest ;  all  were  most  friendly.  One  was  about 
ninety,  and  he  said  :  '  I  was  four  times  your  then 
age  on  that  day,'  which  was  nearly  true. 

After  dinner  toasts  began,  and  in  turn  our 
Queen  and  Empress  of  India  was  proposed,  to 
which  I  replied  ;  also  to  my  health  in  turn.  They 
said  that  after  the  Alma  they  made  sure  the 
allies  would  enter  the  north  side  and  take  the 
place,  and  sent  many  troops  away  to  avoid  cap- 
ture. In  consequence  they  were  short-handed, 
and  the  sailors  had  to  work  very  hard  on,  and  in, 
the  batteries ;  indeed  that  the  battery  work  at 
first  was  nearly  all  done  by  them. 

I,  of  course,  heard  many  personal  narratives. 
Admiral  Manto  declared  he  saw  at  Sinope  a  boy 
killed  by  the  wind  of  a  shot  passing  close  to  him, 
and  that  several  bones  were  broken,  though  he 
was  without  external  injury. 

You  could  at  that  time  quite  trace  out  the 
lines,  both  of  the  defence  and  of  the  besiegers. 
The  advanced  French  trench  was  only  25  yards 
from  the  Malakoff  ditch  ;  but  ours  was  120  yards 
from  the  Redan,   which    we  had  to  storm — the 

270 


ODESSA 

nature  of  the  ground  making  it  very  difficult  to 
get  nearer.     But  this  is  history. 

I  visited  our  cemetery  on  Cathcart  Hill ;  it 
was  then  walled  round  and  well  kept,  but  I  fear 
had  not  always  been  so.  On  the  north  side  of 
the  harbour  is  the  Russian  cemetery  of  the  siege 
where  about  100,000  men  are  said  to  be  buried. 
That  extraordinary  vessel,  the  Popoffka,  was  laid 
up  here ;  she  was  nearly  round,  with  six  screws  to 
drive  her,  and  was  a  failure. 

We  left  Sevastopol  with  regret,  for  Odessa, 
which  is  a  flourishing  town  with  bad  hotels.  I 
went  to  the  cliff  below  which  we  destroyed  the 
Tiger's  engines.  1 

In  Russia  our  letters  often  had  been  opened 
by  the  censor,  our  newspapers  always,  some  not 
let  pass ;  others  came  with  many  parts  obliterated 
with  a  stamp  for  that  purpose.  Books  coming  in 
were  also  examined. 

At  Odessa  the  English  chaplain  showed  me 
a  book  of  his  that  had  been  through  the  censor's 
hands ;  it  was  scored  through  and  marked  in  many 
places,  and  had,  he  thought,  been  finally  thrown 
by  mistake  into  the  delivery  heap,  instead  of  that 
for  destruction. 

One  thing  I  remarked  in  Russia  was  that  no 
driven  horses  have  blinkers  ;  are  they  required 
except  to  put  your  crest  on  ? 

We  next  went  to  Nikolaef,  32  miles  up  the 
River  Bug,  by  steamer,  passing  Kinburn  on  our 
way.  At  Nikolaef  is  a  dockyard  where  the 
ships  of  the  Black  Sea  Fleet  were  all  built  and 

'  See  page  16. 

271 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

formerly  floated  down  the  shallow  river  on 
cradles ;  now  the  river  is  dredged  deeper.  Only 
one  ship,  the  Twelve  Apostles,  was  building. 
There  was  some  absurd  mistake  made  through 
her  name,  that  several  ships  were  being  built 
there.  There  was  in  1854  a  three-decker  of  that 
name  at  Sevastopol. 

From  Nicolaef  we  went  to  Kief,  a  fine  town, 
and  held  in  great  veneration  by  the  Russians. 
Here  we  had  to  personally  interview  the  police 
authorities,  to  obtain  permission  to  leave  Russia. 
Of  course  you  cannot  enter  it  without  a  passport, 
and  the  moment  you  arrive  at  an  hotel  it  must  be 
given  up  to  be  examined  and  marked  at  the  police 
station,  without  which  they  would  not  entertain 
you.  We  returned  to  England  via  Vienna  and 
Paris. 


272 


CHAPTER  XXII 

REAR-AD1\IIRAL   (continued) 

Channel   Squadron — Pilgrims — United   States — ^^lail   Steamer — 
Naval  MancEuvres — France. 

That  winter  I  went  for  a  cruise  as  the  guest  of  my 
friend  Admiral  Sir  Richard  Tracey  in  H.M.S. 
Alison,  he  being  Second  in  Command  of  the  Channel 
Squadron.  New  signal  books  had  just  been 
issued  to  the  Navy,  and  I  was  very  anxious  to  see 
them  tried. 

Young  officers  now  would  be  amused  if  they 
could  see  the  '  Channel  Fleet  '  of  that  day.  It 
consisted  of  four  captains'  ships,  the  Anson 
being  the  only  one  not  obsolete,  and  one  smaller 
vessel  as  despatch  boat.  Perhaps  naturally 
manoeuvres  were  not  attempted,  and  little  besides 
keeping  the  ships  in  order  and  moving  from  port 
to  port  was  done. 

Arosa  Bay  had  just  been  '  discovered  '  by  us  for 
the  squadron  as  a  port.  From  there  we  visited 
St.  lago  de  Compostella,  and  Tracey  and  I  made 
a  further  pilgrimage  to  Corufia  in  the  diligence. 
For  over  seven  hours  we  were  jammed  up  in  the 

273  X 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

banquette,  unable  to  move,  witli  a  fine  view  of  the 
eleven  wretched  quadrupeds,  some  horses,  some 
mules,  who  dragged  us.  On  arrival  I  felt  I  would 
subscribe  anything  for  a  statue  to  the  inventor  of 
railways. 

On  our  way  we  passed  a  real  pilgrim,  in 
ancient  dress,  with  pointed  hat,  long  staff  with  a 
cross,  scollop  shells  on  his  coat — in  fact  *  he  wore  the 
sandal  shoon  and  scollop  shell,'  as  Byron  says. 

We  next  went  to  Gibraltar,  where  the  usual 
winter  entertainments  and  hunting  with  the 
Calpe  Hounds  amused  us.  At  no  place  I  know 
do  the  two  services  fraternise  more  than  here. 

I  visited  Ceuta,  to  form  my  opinion  of  its  value. 
In  1879  I  believe  the  Spaniards  offered  it  to  us 
in  exchange  for  Gibraltar.  Neither  place  has  a 
decent  natural  harbour,  so  in  that  respect  there 
is  not  much  choice.  But  Ceuta  is  more  com- 
manded by  the  hills  rising  from  it.  Probably,  had 
we  made  the  exchange,  we  should  at  that  date 
have  acquired  the  land  near  it  as  a  small  colony, 
but  the  advantages  of  that  are  ver}^  doubtful. 

I  left  m}'  kind  host  in  the  Anson  and  went  to  a 
few  places  on  the  African  coast  and  to  the  South  of 
France  for  a  time.  Toulon  alwa3^s  impresses  me 
as  a  fine  naval  port,  so  long  as  the  heights  near 
it  are  safe  from  an  invading  army. 

In  the  spring  I  went  to  the  United  States,  my 
first  visit  there.  I  crossed  both  ways  in  the 
Cunard  ship  Etniria,  then  one  of  the  fastest  of 
the  day.  She  was  12,000  tons,  505  feet  long,  and 
was  built  in  1S85.  Her  best  runs  were  465  miles 
in  the  day ;  the  passage  from  Queenstown  to  Sandy 

274 


*  A  LADY'S   ADVENTURE   IN   BALTIMORE 

Hook  was  made  in  six  days  and  eighteen  hours, 
and  was  considered  a  very  good  one  then. 

I  visited  various  places  in  the  States,  receiving 
as  one  always  does  the  greatest  kindness  and 
hospitality.  An  introduction  or  two  to  start 
with  leads  probably  to  more  invitations  than  you 
are  able  to  accept. 

At  Washington  I  much  admired  the  splendid 
Capitol,  their  Houses  of  Parliament.  The  site  it 
is  on  and  the  building  itself  taken  together  are 
nearly  unrivalled. 

A  friend,  a  Mrs.  C ,  told  me  the  following 

story  about  an  occurrence  at  Baltimore ;  she  knew 
the  lady  intimately  to  whom  it  occurred.  This 
lady,  who  had  a  home  both  in  that  town  and  a  few 
miles  outside  it,  had  occasion  to  spend  a  night  in 
her  town  house,  then  half  shut  up.  Her  brother 
who  lived  in  the  town  met  her  and  they  with  a  man 
fiiend  dined  at  an  hotel  together.  They  then 
both  saw  her  home  to  her  house.  She  went  into 
her  bedroom  to  prepare  for  bed.  She  had  come 
to  visit  a  bank  and  get  a  considerable  sum  of 
money.  This  her  brother  and  the  friend  both 
knew.  Many  rooms  in  the  United  States  have 
over  the  door  what  is  called  a  '  transom,'  viz.  a 
pane  of  glass  on  a  swivel  frame  that  can  open. 
Sitting  at  her  toilet-table  with  her  back  to  the 
door  she  saw  in  the  mirror  a  face  at  the  transom. 

She  kept  still  and  reflected  that  as  she  was 
alone  in  the  house  to  ring  the  bell  was  no  good, 
and  decided  that  she  would  pretend  not  to  notice 
the  intruder  for  fear  he  should  murder  her;  for 
though  she  recognised  him  as  her  brother's  friend 

275  T2 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

she  felt  he  must  be  tliere  for  some  desperate 
purpose.  So  she  got  into  bed  and  pretended  to 
sleep.  Soon  the  man  climbed  in  through  the 
transom,  took  the  money,  and  let  himself  out  at 
the  door  and  escaped  out  of  the  house,  she  seeming 
to  sleep. 

Next  morning  she  went  to  her  brother  and  told 
him  about  it.  The  brother,  though  incredulous  as 
to  the  identity  of  the  thief,  took  her  to  him,  and 
told  what  she  said.  He  at  once  gave  in,  and 
confessed  that  he  was  in  great  want  of  money 
and  had  acted  as  above. 

There  is  a  fresh,  smart  liveliness  in  American 
society,  caused  perhaps  partly  by  the  atmosphere 
of  the  country,  which  is  certainly  dryer  and 
lighter  than  ours  over  here.  But  I  think  it  is  also 
because  as  a  nation  they  are  more  mixed  and 
cosmopolitan  than  we  are. 

Chicago  to  me  was  the  most  unlike  an  English 
place  than  any  I  visited,  and  no  one  can  like  its 
climate,  or  admire  its  beauty — there  is  none.  One 
day  at  noon  the  thermometer  fell  about  thirty 
degrees  in  fifteen  minutes,  owing  to  a  shift  of  the 
wind  to  blowing  from  off  Lake  Michigan.  I  dined 
at  a  Debating  Club  that  met  periodically,  and  after 
dinner  had  a  regular  debate,  only  one  speaking  at 
a  time — a  very  good  idea,  I  think.  We  had  politics, 
and  the  company  seemed  well  up  in  ours. 

Mr.  Armour  had  me  shown  over  his  great  ham 
and  bacon  place.  One  and  a  quarter  million  pigs 
are  killed  in  a  year.  It  is  not  an  appetising  sight, 
and  I  felt  as  if  I  could  not  eat  ham  for  a  long  time 
after. 

276 


PULLMAN  TOWN- NIAGARA  FALLS 

Pullman  Town  a  few  miles  off  is  worth  seeing, 
where  the  cars  of  that  name  are  made.  They  had 
4500  workmen,  of  whom  3000  were  Germans  and 
Swedes,  and  40  cars  were  being  finished  daily. 
The  wheels  of  the  cars  were  filled  in  with  paper 
squeezed  very  tight  between  the  tyres  and  the 
axle  to  deaden  the  vibration.  By  the  way,  it 
sounds  odd  that  the  Japanese  word  '  Jin-rick-sha' 
means  man-power  car,  or  Pull-man-car. 

Niagara  must  always  fascinate,  but  its  water 
is  being  robbed  for  electric  power,  and  the  sky- 
sign  advertisements  put  up  in  the  most  prominent 
places  are  an  outrage  on  nature. 

I  had  introductions  to  a  family  who  had  lived 
here  for  some  generations  just  above  the  falls. 
A  very  charming  daughter  took  me  about  and 
said  she  had  grown  up  overlooking  the  rapid  just 
above  where  it  fell  over,  and  the  falls  to  her  were 
quite  natural  all  her  life,  and  she  had  seen  a  boat 
with  people  in  it,  that  had  lost  an  oar,  helplessly 
swept  over. 

Below  the  falls  it  is  calm  for  a  mile  or  so  before 
the  lower  rapids  in  which  Captain  Webb  was 
drowned.  One  can  pull  in  a  small  boat  to  within 
a  hundred  yards  of  the  torrent,  below  it,  quite 
safely.  I  did  so,  as  the  season  for  the  excursion 
steamers  had  not  begun. 

The  American  works  and  tunnelling  to  use  the 
water  for  electric  power  were  just  then  beginning, 
and  electricity  is  perhaps  the  problem  of  the  hour 
now.  I  then  heard  the  account  of  Mr.  Edison 
trying  to  restore  his  first  wife  to  life  by  it,  and 
think   I   can   understand   its   domination   of    the 

277 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

senses,  in  those  who  have  immersed  their  minds 
in  it. 

I  returned  to  England  in  the  Etruria,  as  I  have 
said.  It  was  the  height  of  the  season,  and  she, 
being  one  of  the  flyers  of  the  time,  was  crowded. 

The  floral  offerings  to  the  departing  ladies 
nearly  filled  the  saloon — ships  made  of  flowers  and 
other  contrivances  ;  all  meals  had  to  be  doubled ; 
on  deck  you  could  hardly  walk  at  all  for  the  long 
lounge  chairs  in  which  the  passengers  delighted. 
I  should  like  to  have  put  them  all  on  board  a 
man-of-war,  and  not  allowed  them  to  sit  down 
on  deck  !  But  the  crowd  was  very  amusing  in  its 
way. 

Mostly  the  cabins  were  crammed,  but  I  had  one 
to  myself  by  the  kindness  of  my  good  friend  the 
first  Lord  Inverclyde.  On  the  way  home  we 
had  a  concert,  as  I  believe  all  the  mail  steamers  do, 
in  aid  of  Sailors'  Homes  at  Liverpool  and  at 
New  York,  this  last  having  been  latterly  most  pro- 
perly added.  I  was  made  chairman  of  it ;  much 
money  must  be  got  in  the  year. 

Our  captain  told  me  this  story.  One  trip  he 
was  leaving  New  Y^ork,  and  on  descending  from 
the  bridge  when  outside  the  harbour  was  accosted 
by  a  passenger,  who  said  :  *  Captain,  I  have  looked 
at  the  compass,  and  see  that  the  course  you  are 
steering  will  not  take  us  to  Oueenstown,  and  I  am 
a  schoolmaster  and  know  about  these  things.' 
The  captain  was  not  pleased  and  gave  but  a  short 
reply.  Having  reached  Oueenstown  as  usual, 
they  were  leaving  for  Liverpool,  and  as  he  came 
down  from  the  bridge  he  saw  the  learned  peda- 

278 


NAVAL  MANOEUVRES 

gogue  waiting  for  him,  who  at  once  said  :  *  Well, 
Captain,  I  see  you  did  get  here;  but  can  you 
explain  it  ?  '  To  which  the  captain  replied, 
'  Sir,  you  are  a  schoolmaster,  and  I  am  not,  so 
I  do  not  pretend  to  explain  it.'  My  readers  will 
understand  the  schoolmaster  considered  neither 
the  variation  nor  the  deviation  of  the  compass. 

I  now  spent  the  season  mostly  in  town,  but  I 
do  not  write  of  my  private  life  in  England,  as  I 
cannot  suppose  it  will  interest  others,  and  such 
personal   monologues   are   usually   overdone. 

In  the  autumn  of  1890  I  again  embarked  in  the 
Anson  as  a  guest  of  my  friend  Admiral  Tracey  for 
the  manoeuvres.  Our  '  side,'  the  *  A  '  or  defending 
fleet,  assembled  in  Ptymouth  Sound. 

War  was  supposed  to  be  declared  at  5  p.m.  on 
8th  August.  Tracey  was  second  in  command. 
Our  Commander-in-Chief,  a  most  able  man,  had 
no  expectation  of  hostilities  that  night,  but  at 
about  3  A.M.  next  morning  the  (supposed)  enemy's 
torpedo  flotilla  came  in,  and  harmlessly  torpedoed 
three  or  four  of  our  ships,  which  would  have 
defeated  our  side,  as  leaving  us  too  inferior  to  the 
other  fleet. 

What  was  to  be  done  ?  The  Admiralty  were 
consulted  by  telegraph  ;  and  the  wise  decision 
arrived  at,  that  the  manoeuvres  should  proceed 
without  prejudice  ! 

Not  much  happened ;  we  ('  A '  Fleet)  cruised 
mostly  off  the  Scilly  Islands  for  about  ten  days, 
and  then  returned  to  port.  It  is  not  easy  to 
make  naval  manoeuvres  really  instructive,  but 
the  general  experience  of  getting  ships  and  crews 

279 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

into  order,  and  of  organising  and  handling  a 
quantity  of  ships,  is  all  good  experience  ;  and 
to  have  a  supposed  strategic  object  in  view  much 
exercises  the  imagination  and  scheming  powers 
of  those  in  command,  at  the  same  time  exciting 
an  interest  in  all  concerned  that  sometimes  becomes 
curiously  great,  and  calls  forth  extra  zeal.  All 
this  is  good,  but  after  all  it  does  not  matter  one 
straw  which  side  is  supposed  to  have  won. 

I  may  add  by  my  own  experience  that  these 
mobilisations — certainly  w^hen  I  had  to  do  with 
them  between  the  years  1885  and  1897 — showed 
us  many  weak  points  about  ships  supposed  to  be 
in  the  pink  of  condition,  for  commissioning  and 
proceeding  to  sea  on  active  service.  No  doubt 
these  experiences  were  as  salutary  as  unwelcome, 
and  of  proportionate  advantage  to  the  service. 
In  which  case,  adding  together  all  the  above,  we 
may  say  the  game  was,  and  is,  well  worth  the 
candle,  and  that  the  expense  of  the  manoeuvres  is 
not  to  be  grudged. 

I  joined  a  friend  in  taking  a  shooting  in  Scot- 
land for  the  autumn,  and  then  went  to  France.  As 
usual  I  went  to  Touraine,  mostl3%  and  lived  among 
my  old  French  friends.  I  am  always  struck  with 
two  or  three  things  in  French  countr^^  life  as 
different  from  ours.  I  think  the  life  of  the  gentr}' 
is  simpler  and  less  ostentatious  than  in  England  ; 
cheaper  too,  both  because  a  franc  goes  as  far 
as  a  shilling  in  England,  and  also  because  French 
servants  work  much  harder  than  ours,  and  one 
servant  does  the  work  of  two  here. 

As  regards  the  clergy,  I  have  the  greatest 
280 


IN  THE   BORDEAUX   COUNTRY 

respect  for  the  country  cures,  and  believe  that, 
as  a  rule,  they  lead  quite  exemplary  lives.  The 
gentry  seem  to  me  to  take  little  share  in  the 
management  of  provincial  matters  and  politics — 
a  state  of  affairs  in  my  opinion  almost  disastrous 
to  a  nation.  When  talking  to  them  about  it,  they 
seem  often  as  if  they  had  given  the  matter  up  as  a 
bad  job.  I  suppose  Communism  will  some  day 
produce  this  feeling  in  other  countries  than  France 
— here  perhaps. 

i  I  spent  a  few  daj-s  at  Bordeaux  and  heard 
much  about  wine,  and  dined  with  a  French  wine 
merchant.  It  was  new  to  me  to  hear  that  Medoc, 
the  name  for  wine  so  well  known,  and  taken  from 
the  growth  of  the  vines  there,  got  its  name  from 
in  medio  aqua,  meaning  the  tongue  of  land,  about 
fifty-five  miles  long,  situated  between  the  River 
Gironde  and  the  sea,  on  which  so  much  of  that  red 
wine's  grapes  are  grown. 

I  came  to  London  from  Bordeaux  by  sea  in  a 
small  English  steamer.  Our  weather  was  curious : 
we  had  in  turn,  first  a  snowstorm,  then  a  thunder- 
storm, a  waterspout,  and  St.  Elmo's  hghts  at 
the  ends  of  the  spars.  Such  a  variety  in  two  or 
three  days  I  never  saw.  The  Clerk  of  the  Weather 
must  have  gone  mad  ! 

The  captain  knew  the  shoals  about  Ushant 
perfectly,  and  to  show  me  how  at  home  he  was 
there,  in  a  dark  night,  he  passed  through  inside 
the  Isle  de  Seine  and  Ushant  with  the  utmost 
confidence  ;  it  struck  me  how  useful  such  men 
would  be  to  us  if  ever  the  times  of  a  century  ago 
returned.     But  they  will  not,  I  think. 

281 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

REAR-ADMIRAL   (continued) 

West  India  Islands — Training  Squadron — Jamaica — Shark  Story 
—  Panama  Canal  —  North  Pacific  Mail  Steamer  —  San 
Francisco — California — Canada — Canary  Islands — Emigrant 
Story. 

I  SAILED  in  the  R.M.S.P.  Orinoco  for  Barbados 
on  Christmas  Eve,  and  spent  a  nice  quiet  Christmas 
Day  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay  ;  a  very  good  place  too 
for  it. 

At  Barbados  I  went  to  the  post-office  and  got 
one  letter  asking  me  to  stay  at  Fonthill  in  England, 
the  other  at  Fonthill  in  Jamaica.  Rather  odd  ; 
once,  as  is  known,  both  belonged  to  the  same  owner. 

Barbados  is  one-seventh  larger  than  the  Isle  of 
Wight.  I  always  think  comparisons  like  that  are 
much  better  than  to  say  so  many  acres  or  square 
miles.  The  fact  of  the  coffins  in  a  well-closed  up 
and  dry  vault,  in  a  churchyard  in  Barbados,  being 
found  on  more  than  one  occasion  moved  about  to 
new  positions  when  the  vault  was  re-opened  for 
another  burial,  is  well  known  and  I  believe  quite 
unexplained. 

I  then  took  to  the  local  British  Royal  Mail 
steamer   and   went  to  Santa  Lucia,  but  will  not 

282 


THE   GRAVE   OF   PITT'S   SON 

weary  my  readers  with  an  account  of  these  well- 
known  islands.  I  believe  there  is  only  one  of  our 
West  India  islands  in  which  the  *  Fer  de  lance  ' 
snake  is  found,  viz.  Santa  Lucia.  Kingsley  in  his 
'  At  Last,'  I  think,  gives  Dominica  the  palm  as 
being  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Antilles,  and  I 
know  no  island  anywhere  that  to  my  mind 
surpasses  it  ;  but  such  is  a  question  of  feeling, 
not  fact. 

I  visited  several  more  of  these  islands,  and 
could  advise  anyone  fond  of  yachting  to  spend 
a  winter  among  them. 

On  1 2th  January  i8gi,  as  I  was  driving  through 
the  Island  of  Antigua  to  English  Harbour,  and 
passing  the  churchyard  of  St.  Paul's  parish,  I 
stopped  and  went  in  to  look  at  the  graves,  and 
found  one  with  its  stone  slab  covering  fallen  off, 
but  on  it  was  engraved  : 

'  Here  lie  the  remains  of  Hon^'''  James  Charles 
Pitt — Son  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham — Com- 
mander of  H.M.S.  Hornet,  who  died  in  English 
Harbour  13th  November  1780,  aged  20  years. 
His  early  virtues  and  dawning  promise 
bespoke  a  meridian  splendour  worthy  the 
name  of  Pitt.' 

One  brother  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
and  the  other  at  St.  Paul's — Antierua.  I  was  able 
to  communicate  with  relatives,  who  restored  the 
grave. 

I  spent  some  very  pleasant  days  in  Grenada 
with  my  friends  the  Hon.  Sir  Walter  and  Lady 
Hely  Hutchinson,  he  being  the  Governor  there, 

283 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

and  the  possessor  of  a  beautiful  collection  of 
orchids. 

At  St.  Thomas,  which  is  Danish,  the  Governor 
was  most  kind.  I  licard  all  about  the  great  hurricane 
of  1867  and  the  seismic  wave  that  visited  the  island 
a  few  weeks  afterwards,  but  had  no  connection 
with  the  former.  Residents  told  me  that  con- 
cerning the  wave,  they  saw  the  sea  much  higher 
than  usual  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbour,  and  were 
alarmed  and  ran  up  the  hillside  on  which  the  town 
stands.  That  after  the  wave  had  come  in  and 
flooded  the  lower  town,  and  wrecked  some  ships, 
the  sea  receded  many  feet  below  the  normal 
position,  and  for  a  very  short  interval  left  dry 
parts  that  are  usually  many  feet  under  water. 
Then  by  degrees  with  ebbs  and  flows  of  waves  the 
ordinary  condition  was  restored. 

At  St.  Kitts  Island  I  became  the  guest  of 
Commodore  A.  T.  Powlett,  my  old  messmate  in 
the  Terrible — he  being  in  command  of  our 
training  squadron  ;  and  with  him  I  went  to 
Jamaica  in  the  Active. 

The  Exhibition  there  of  1891  was  in  full  swing 
and  was  a  great  success.  I  thought  not  the  least 
interesting  thing  in  it  was  the  ship's  papers  that 
were  found  inside  a  shark,  concerning  which  the 
following  is  a  true  account. 

The  Nancy,  a  brig  of  Baltimore,  left  that  place 
in  1799,  and  on  her  way  to  Port  au  Prince  was 
captured  by  H.M.S.  Sparrow  and  taken  to  Port 
Royal,  her  cargo  being  contraband  of  war.  The 
case  was  being  tried  in  the  Vice-Admiralt}'  Court 
at  Kingston,  and  would  have  been  dismissed,  had 

284 


A   SUGAR-CANE    ESTATE 

not  Lieutenant  Fitton  of  H.M.S.  Abergavenny 
produced  certain  papers  which  he  found  inside  a 
shark  caught  off  Jacmel  by  the  Ferret,  tender  to  the 
above  ship.  These  papers,  together  with  others 
of  an  incriminating  nature  found  in  the  Nancy, 
led  to  the  condemnation  of  the  brig  and  her  cargo 
on  25th  November  1799.^ 

I  stayed  with  my  cousin,  Captain  Seymour 
Spencer  Smith,  at  his  estates,  Fonthill  and  Hamp- 
stead,  which  adjoin.  In  his  great-uncle's  time 
the  owner  could  lay  by  £10,000  a  year  ;  that  being 
the  palmy  period  of  slaves  and  sugar.  Now 
there  is  not  a  cane  on  the  property  ;  but  pimento, 
logwood  and  cattle  are  the  staples  of  it,  and  the 
income  is,  I  fear,  very  little. 

Both  the  grand  old  planter's  houses  of  the 
two  estates  had  vanished.  I  visited  other  estates, 
and  stayed  at  one  called  the  '  Retreat,'  owned  by 
Mr.  W.  Farquharson.  This  was  a  sugar-cane  one, 
and  the  harvest  was  in  full  swing  when  I  was  there. 
The  cane-crushing  mill  was  close  to  our  small  house. 
It  was  a  scene  of  great  animation ;  work  went  on 
for  about  eighteen  hours,  certainly  for  far  more  than 
the  hours  of  daylight.  Negroes  and  negresses 
big  and  small  joined  in.  When  a  certain  amount 
of  cane  was  crushed  the  big  bell  was  tolled  loudly, 
and  each  operative  knew  that  he,  or  she,  had 
earned  so  much  harvest  money,  and  was  stimu- 
lated thereby  to  fresh  exertions. 

The  negroes  are,  of  course,  utterly  unfit  to 
govern  themselves,  but  if  governed  witii  a  strong 

'  The  shark's  jaws  are  now  in  the  United  Service  Museum, 
Whitehall. 

285 


\r{  NAVAL  CAREER 

and  kinci  iLind,  are  happy,  healthy,  and,  to  my 
mind.  ver\*  am'^^ing  to  deal  with. 

I  have  talked  in  the  Southern  States  of  the 
Unioii  with  pez-ple  who  remembered  the  slave 
times.  Of  course  it  was  an  abuse  that  should  not 
exist,  and  all  history,  I  think,  shows,  not  only  in 
the  s->cai:ed  '  New  World  '  but  also  in  the  *  Old,' 
that  ^ve-owning  hiad  alwa\'s  a  very  bad  effect 
OQ  th-r  ziii'rrs  ;  worse  morallv  than  on  the 
slaves. 

Fr:m  Jamiiza  I  went  to  Colon  to  see  the 
Panajm.  Z-^T.^.  i- d  t  J  do  s-o  stayed  in  Panama,  and 
fr: :  ":  re  \"isited  the  vv--rks.  In  the  Sinetdtnik 
C'l'-.        -  -  -  -    ~     -laiy-  1592  I  pnbiished 

-^t  r^i  il:  my  opinions,  that  were 

T:  '  '  '  rk  had  gone  on  about  nine  years, 

in  "  -— -  _..--_  ,-.-_j^  ;-::-':"?  had 

br  -      .  -    .:  ::  :..::.-  weU; 

and  that  a  .  .;  inal,  with  an  artincial  lake  to 
aliment  0;     .  :     "od  the  only  practical  plan. 

I  wa^  m_. y  "vith  the  deadly  climate  of 

the  Isohm-oi-     '.  ^i  is  ver%*  trying  because 

the  climate  is  s:  iinoo  ar.d  steamy ;  the  thermo- 
meter while  I  was  there  ranged  from  77"  to  87^. 
As  regards  the  P^-l~i  t\'-  \'-  the  esuressino 
is  that  a  man  '.va_i  lor.-,  ^.r  ever}'  deeper. 
The  growth  of  the  vegetation  is  such  that  they  say 
if  the  railway  was  quite  ne^ected  for  a  few  weeks 
the  creepers,  5:c.,  c.::ili  make  the  line  impassable 
tiu  cleared,  away. 

In  the  town  of  Panama  were  man}'  hairless 
do^  (cahrl     Fever  cogs'}   when   I  '.vas   there, 

2^ 


EASTER  DAY  AT   P.A.\.\3L\ 

of  whom  the  supers titi en  is  that  they  are  an 
antidote  to  the  fever. 

We  were  at  Panama  on  Easter  Dav.  In  the 
morning  we  attended  High  Mass  at  the  Cathedral, 
where  a  company  of  soldiers  were  present  in 
full  dress,  and  presented  arms  at  the  '  Elevation 
of  the  Host.'  In  the  afternoon  we  were  present 
at  a  cock  nght,  the  only  one  I  ever  saw,  and 
I  cannot  understand  how  English  gentlemen  can 
have  taien  pleasure  in  so  degrading  a  sport. 

We  all  admire  Count  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps, 
but  so  great  a  work  as  the  Panama  Canal  was 
surely  never  elsewhere  so  hghtlj'  undertaken. 

I  left  Panama  in  the  U.S.  Mail  steamer  Acapulco 
for  San  Francisco.  We  called  at  man\-  ports  on 
our  wa^' ;  in  Guatemala  we  went  by  rail  to  the 
capital — of  no  great  interest.  At  a  station  on  our 
way  up  we  were  ^isited  by  some  tiny  native 
women  sjellmg  fine  and  excellent  pineapples  for 
what  equalled  in  our  money  2d.  each. 

Our  steamer  had  lately  had  a  tragic  event  on 
board.  She  was  coming  south,  and  anchored  off 
St.  Jose,  the  port  for  the  country.  She  had  on 
board  a  Guatemalan  General  proscribed  b}"  law. 
He  hoped  to  get  by  unnoticed,  but  the  authorities 
heard  he  was  in  the  ship,  and  the  police  boarded 
her,  and  demanded  his  being  given  up.  He  retreated 
to  his  cabin  with  arms,  and  locked  the  doc»r. 

Free  firing  began  and  he  was  killed ;  there  were 
many  bullet  marks  to  be  seen.  A  United  States 
gunboat  was  at  the  anchorage,  and  her  com- 
mander was  blamed  for  not  ha\"ing  tak^n  the 
\"ictim  on  bocird,  kept  outside,  and  so  saved  the 

2&7 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

above  scene  in  a  vessel  under  the  United  States 
flag.  But  as  things  were  the  local  authorities 
acted  within  their  riglits. 

All  the  servants,  and  many  of  the  stokers  and 
others  in  these  steamers  are  Chinamen,  and  with 
all  a  bargain  is  made  that  if  they  die  on  board 
their  bodies  are  embalmed  and  sent  back  to  China 
for  interment  at  the  cost  of  the  steamer  company. 
The  Pacific  coast  of  Central  America  is  very 
badly  off  for  harbours;  usually  there  was  no 
shelter  where  we  anchored. 

In  about  a  month  we  arrived  at  San  Francisco 
and  found  two  celebrities  there,  viz.  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  Sarah  Bernhardt,  who 
was  in  the  same  hotel  with  me,  and  her  rooms 
being  on  the  same  floor,  the  landing  was  usually 
covered  with  presents  from  her  admirers — floral 
gifts,  of  course,  but  also  wild  animals  of  sorts, 
luckily  in  cages  ;  anything  she  asked  for,  if  it 
could  be  got. 

The  climate  of  California  in  spring  is  delightful, 
and  indeed  all  the  year  round  is,  I  believe,  one 
of  the  best  in  the  world.  As  a  harbour  San 
Francisco  has  the  fault  of  being  too  large  inside, 
like  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Among  other  places  I  visited  the  Yoscmite 
Valley  and  the  famous  Wellingtonias,  oi  Sequoias, 
at  the  Mariposa  Grove.  We  drove  through  the 
hole  cut  in  the  tree,  which  everyone  knows  on 
the  wine  brand  advertisement.  Near  by  there 
is  a  store  where  all  sorts  of  things  are  sold  and 
all  said  to  be  made  of  the  wood  cut  out  to  make 
the  above  hole. 

288 


THE    MAIL   DRIVER   AND  THE    HIGHWAYMEN 

A  Yankee  friend  with  me  bought  a  stick,  and 
when  another  man  doubted  its  genuineness, 
rephed,  '  The  man  said  it  was  so,  and  I  carried 
it  off,  and  the  he  is  on  his  conscience.' 

I  drove  many  miles  on  a  '  buckboard  '  with 
an  American  and  his  daughter,  and  our  driver, 
whose  father  had  driven  the  mail  cart  for  years, 
told  us  several  stories  of  the  highwaymen.  One 
only  I  will  repeat,  as  follows  :  His  father  had 
by  his  side  a  lady  who  had  on  a  watch  and  chain 
round  her  neck,  which  she  much  valued,  and 
hoped  if  stuck  up)  by  the  robbers  she  would  not 
lose  it.  The  driver  said:  'Give  it  to  me,  for  if 
we  do  what  they  tell  us  it  is  a  point  of  honour 
not  to  rob  the  driver.'  They  were  stopped  by 
the  brigands.  The  fashion  was  for  one  or  two 
brigands  to  stand  in  the  road  and  call  out 
'  Stop,'  while  others  from  the  roadside  kept 
their  rifles  pointed  at  the  car.  The  driver  was 
expected  to  pull  up,  and  get  out  and  stand  at 
his  horses'  heads  till  the  affair  was  over  ; 
the  passengers  all  to  alight  and  toe  a  line 
along  the  road,  and  hold  their  hands  up  while 
searched. 

This  procedure  went  on,  and  was  all  but  over, 
when  one  of  the  highwaymen  said  to  the  driver : 
'  Hullo,  Bill,  that  's  a  fine  chain  you  've  got  on, 
what's  the  time  ?  '  Bill  coolly  looked  at  the 
watch,  and  was  about  to  reply,  when  the  owner 
called  out  :  '  Oh  my  dear  watch,  don't  take  it.' 
'Oh,  Bill,'  said  his  querist,  '  that  's  the  game,  is 
it  ?  Hand  over  the  watch  and  chain  and  never 
try  that  trick  again.' 

289  V 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

Everyone  knows  there  are  no  end  of  rattle- 
snakes in  California.  One  day  with  some  com- 
panions we  saw  a  snake  on  the  road  that  had 
been  hurt  and  could  not  get  away.  I  jumped 
down  and  got  my  foot  on  its  head.  They  said, 
'  Pull  his  rattles  off.'  I  hate  touching  a  snake, 
but  did  so,  and  gave  them  to  the  lady  mentioned 
above,  as  women  out  there  sometimes  wear  them  as 
brooches.  This  snake  had  nine  rattles ;  eleven  are 
said  to  be  about  the  greatest  number  found,  and  the 
snakes,  I  am  told,  get  one  more  each  year  they  live. 

From  San  Francisco  I  went  to  Vancouver's 
Island,  and  thence  across  Canada  to  Montreal,  but 
a  description  by  me  is  not  wanted.  Travellers  in 
the  United  States  know  what  the  newspaper 
reporters  are.  I  have  been  '  interviewed  '  many 
times.  But  at  Seattle  they  put  in  an  invented 
conversation  with  my  opinions,  I  not  having 
been  even  asked  for  an  interview.  As  a  rule  I 
used  to  see  the  reporters  to  save  worry,  and  they 
are  often  amusing.  Besides  the  interview  I  have 
been  requested  to  come  round  the  comer  and 
be  photographed  '  right  away  '  for  to-morrow's 
issue  ;  and  I  have  once  or  twice  seen  the  portrait 
of  another  naval  officer  put  in  as  mine.  These 
things  do  no  harm,  and  it  is  best  to  be  amused 
b}^  them.  Contradiction  of  invented  opinions 
rather  pleases  the  journalist,  as  drawing  attention 
to  his  organ. 

I  returned  to  England  in  an  Allan  Line  steamer, 
with  no  event  to  relate  except  seeing  some  icebergs. 

In  the  autumn  of  1891  I  had  a  cruise  in  the 
Sans    Pareil  with  my  friend,   now   Admiral  Sir 

290 


CANARY  ISLANDS 

Cyprian  Bridge,  to  see  the  naval  manoeuvres  of 
the  year.  Tlie  ship  was  sister  to  the  ill-fated 
Victoria,  and  the  only  other  one  of  that  class. 

In  December  I  went  to  the  Canary  Islands. 
We  arrived  at  Santa  Cruz  on  Christmas  Day,  and 
to  show  what  odd  mistakes  the  telegraph  codes 
may  make,  I  will  mention  that  two  of  my  fellow 
passengers — husband  and  wife,  he  being  in  business 
in  England — on  landing  at  Teneriffe  got  a  Unicode 
telegram  saying,  *  Your  house  is  burnt  down,  but 
business  can  still  be  conducted.'  Only  one  letter, 
or  figure — I  forget  which — was  put  wrong  and  made 
the  above  instead  of  *  A  merry  Christmas  and  a 
happy  New  Year.' 

I  visited  all  seven  of  the  Canary  Islands,  and 
it  is  curious  how  much  they  differ.  The  three 
western  ones — Palma,  Gomera,  and  Hierro — are  the 
smallest,  greenest  and  dampest.  The  two  eastern 
ones — Lanzarote  and  Fuertevertura — are  the  driest, 
both  for  climate,  soil  and  vegetation.  In  some 
places  in  the  former  island  the  end  of  a  stick  put 
two  feet  into  the  ground  is  charred  by  the  heat. 
The  two  central  and  largest — Teneriffe  and  Gran 
Caranaria — are  midway  in  climate,  as  in  position,  re- 
garding the  others;  and  they  are  both  the  most 
populous  for  their  size,  as  well  as  the  best  known. 

I  took  it  into  my  head  to  try  and  ascend  the 
Peak   of   Teneriffe   in   January.     Perhaps   partly 

because   Lord   M had   tried   it   two   months 

before  and  failed. ^      It  is  no  feat  at  all.     Alpine 

'  See  a  letter  to  the  Times  in  November  1S91.  I  sent  my 
account  to  tlie  Times,  but  being  only  a  common  naval  officer  it 
was  not  published. 

2QI  U2 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

climbers  would  laugh  at  it.  But  so  far  as  I  could 
learn  it  had  never  been  done  in  winter,  and  the 
guides  did  not  wish  to  try  it.  Everything  is 
comparative  ! 

The  peak  is  12,198  feet  high  above  the  sea, 
and  rises  in  all  about  15,000  feet  from  the  bed  of 
the  ocean. 

About  7000  feet  above  the  sea  you  come  to 
what  are  called  the  Caiiadas — '  Canada  '  meaning 
in  Spanish  a  glen  or  dale  between  mountains.  It 
is  supposed  that  this  plateau,  which  is  about 
eight  miles  in  diameter,  was  the  ancient  crater  of 
eruption  while  still  submerged  ;  and  that  before 
its  upheaval  from  the  sea,  the  second  part  of  the 
mountain  had  been  thrown  up,  and  replaced  it 
as  the  active  part  of  the  volcano.  This  second 
part  rises  to  a  height  of  10,702  feet  above  the 
sea,  at  a  place  called  Alta  Vista,  and  from  there 
springs  the  present  cone. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  the  upper  half  of  the 
mountain,  including  the  Caiiadas,  was  covered 
with  snow.  I  first  went  up  to  them,  made  my 
plan  and  returned.  I  then  started  early  one 
morning  \\dth  three  native  guides,  also  Harold 
Douglas,  a  young  friend,  Mr.  Egger,  the  landlord 
of  my  hotel  at  Orotava,  and  two  mules. 

We  rested  at  a  hut  on  the  Cafiadas,  where  the 
guides  strongly  advised  our  returning.  But  in 
spite  of  them  we  went  on  up  the  *  Lomo  Tieso/ 
perhaps  best  translated  as  the  *  Stubborn  Ridge,' 
a  steep  ascent  of  frozen  snow ;  of  course  no  mules 
could  face  it.  I  had  chosen  full  moon,  and,  with 
axes  to  help  cut  steps,  we  at  last  reached,  at  Alta 

292 


PASSAGE   IN   A   FROZEN-MEAT   SHIP 

Vista,  the  hut  called  the  *  Casa  Inglesa/  into 
which  we  got  and  spent  a  chilly  night.  My 
companions  were  mountain  sick,  I  much  the 
same,  and  all  very  cold.  Next  morning  we 
climbed  up  the  cone,  and  so  accomplished  our 
object. 

In  summer  only  patches  of  snow  are  left  on 
the  mountain.  I  could  say  much  about  the 
Canary  Islands,  but  will  cut  short  any  further 
account  of  them,  as  I  did  my  own  visit,  on  hearing 
that  my  turn  for  employment  seemed  to  have 
come,  and  I  was  most  anxious  above  all  things 
to  hoist  my  flag,  and  I  wished  therefore  to  be 
on  the  spot. 

I  therefore  got  a  passage  home  in  a  New 
Zealand  frozen-meat  ship,  called  the  Maori,  as 
the  quickest  means  of  going.  She  was  not  a 
passenger  ship.  We  fed  on  frozen  sheep  got  up 
every  morning  from  the  refrigerating  room, 
thawed  gradually  and  then  cooked.  The  cooling 
of  the  refrigerating  chambers  was  done  entirely 
by  very  great  compression  of  air,  which  is  then 
passed  through  pipes  cooled  by  the  sea  water  ; 
after  which  it  is  allowed  to  expand  suddenly  and 
then  becomes  very  cold,  going  to  far  below  zero 
even  in  the  tropics  at  times,  I  am  told. 

The  captain  told  me  the  following  story.  He 
was  first  mate  of  a  sailing  ship  taking  emigrants 
to  New  Zealand.  One  afternoon  an  emigrant 
apparently  died.  He  reported  this  to  the  captain, 
who  said  :  '  We  will  bury  him  at  sunset.'  But 
as  the  man  had  a  wife  on  board  it  was  put  off  to 
the   next    morning.      That  evening  the  supposed 

293 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

deceased  was  being  sewn  up  in  canvas,  which  at 
sea  takes  the  place  of  a  coffin.  The  face  is  usually 
covered  last,  and  when  it  came  to  that  stage,  my 
informant  agreed  with  the  sailmaker  to  leave  the 
face  exposed  till  the  next  morning,  so  that  the  wife 
might  take  a  last  look  at  it.  The  body  was  in  a 
place  by  itself.  In  the  morning  the  bereaved  one 
went  in  alone  to  say  farewell.  A  loud  yell  was 
heard,  others  entered,  and  found  the  supposed 
widow  fainting  across  the  *  corpse,'  whose  eyes  were 
rolling  in  its  head.  Finally  husband  and  wife  both 
landed  in  New  Zealand.  Moral,  when  you  emigrate 
take  a  wife  with  you. 

We  arrived  in  the  Thames,  and  I  proceeded  to 
urge  my  claim  for  employment  into  the  always 
most  sympathetic  ears  of  the  Lords  Commissioners 
of  the  Admiralty  ! 


294 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

SECOND   IN   COMMAND   CHANNEL  SQUADRON 

H.M.S.  Swiftsure — Manoeuvres — H.M.S.  Anson — Fcrrol — Salving 
H.M.S.  Howe — Spaniards — Serpent's  Cemetery — Ferrol  Ball 
— H.M.S.  Empress  of  India — Winter  Cruise. 

On  2ist  July  1892  I  hoisted  my  flag  for  the  first 
time  in  H.M.S.  Swiftsure  at  Devonport  for  a 
month's  cruise  as  Second  in  Command  for  the 
summer   manoeuvres. 

I  had  then  been  three  years  on  half-pay  as 
Rear-Admiral,  and,  having  no  particular  interest, 
began  to  think  that  the  Admiralty  did  not 
intend  to  employ  me  at  all ;  the  more  so  that 
some  of  my  juniors  were  already  afloat  in  good 
appointments. 

At  the  time  I  was  much  annoyed,  but  reflec- 
tion showed  me  two  things :  one  that  selection 
must  always  be  ruled  by  some  favouritism,  which 
when  in  our  favour  w^e  call  good  judgment ;  and 
the  other  that  your  character  and  your  sympathy 
with  others  benefit  much  by  some  personal  dis- 
appointment. But  I  was  very  glad  to  get  afloat 
anyhow. 

My  superior  officer  in  these  manoeuvres  was 

295 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

the  late  Admiral  Fitzroy,  an  old  friend,  and  a 
very  capable  officer.  We  rendezvoused  in  Torbay 
to  organise  ;  this  with  a  lot  of  scratch  com- 
missioned ships  means  hard  work  for  all  con- 
cerned, but  it  is  capital  training  for  what  will 
probably  occur  in  case  of  war. 

A  description  of  the  manoeuvres  would  not 
be  interesting,  so  I  will  only  say  we  were  called 
the  Red  Fleet,  and  the  others  the  Blue  ;  that 
the  seat  of  the  supposed  war  was  off  the  north- 
east coast  of  Ireland  mostly ;  and  we  were 
considered  to  have  won.  Outsiders  can  hardly 
realise  how  interested  and  even  excited  the 
actors  in  these  sham  campaigns  get  ;  and  it  is 
well  they  should  do  so.  In  this  one  in  Belfast 
Lough,  the  officer  of  a  steamboat  put  his  helm 
over  and  rammed  an  enemy's  boat,  excusing  him- 
self by  saying  he  thought  the  order  called  out 
to  run  was  to  ram.  But  I  am  sure  he  much 
preferred  what  he  did  do.  Happily  they  were 
not  ships. 

The  next  month — September — I  was  appointed 
as  Second  in  Command  of  the  Channel  Fleet,  my 
flag  being  in  the  Anson,  a  ship  I  knew  already. 
She  was  one  of  the  six  '  Admiral '  class,  and,  like 
most  other  armoured  vessels,  was  soon  severely 
criticised,  and  almost  condemned.  Their  worst 
point,  perhaps,  was  that  their  barbettes  did  not 
have  sufficient  armoured  protection  below  them. 
For  accommodation  the  men  were  very  v/ell  off 
in  the  central  and  highest  part  of  the  ship. 

The  ends  of  the  ship  were  very  low,  and  I 
have  seen  her  battened  down  forward,  and  also 

296 


CHANNEL  SQUADRON  CRUISE 

aft  over  all  the  officers'  cabins  and  mess  places, 
for  two  or  more  days.  But  they  were  better 
fighting  ships  than  those  before  them. 

The  flag-officer  commanding  the  Channel 
Fleet  then  was  Vice- Admiral  Fairfax,  a  delightful 
companion,  and  a  great  friend. 

In  October  the  squadron  rendezvoused  off  the 
Start,  and  comprised  the  Royal  Sovereign  (flag  of 
Vice- Admiral  Fairfax),  Anson,  Howe  and  Rodney 
(ironclads  so-called  then),  two  cruisers,  and  a 
despatch  boat. 

We  went  to  the  north  coast  of  Spain,  and 
then  to  Coruiia,  the  scene  of  that  battle  ending 
with  our  splendid  retreat  in  1809  and  the  glorious 
death  of  our  General.  A  retreat  may  be  as 
creditable  as  a  victory,  and  Sir  John  Moore's 
was  so  ;  but,  perhaps,  a  battle  can  hardly  be 
called  a  victory  unless  you  either  hold  the  field 
or  advance  beyond  it. 

On  2nd  November  we  went  to  Ferrol  to  pay 
an  official  visit  to  the  Spanish  Captain-General, 
meaning  to  stay  there  only  three  hours;  I 
remained  seven  months.  What  happened  was 
this  :  Our  squadron,  as  enumerated  above,  was 
passing  through  the  long  entrance  to  Ferrol 
harbour,  with  a  flood  tide  in  its  favour.  The 
ships  were  in  single  column  line  ahead,  as  was 
right,  the  Royal  Sovereign  leading.  As  soon  as 
she  had  cleared  the  passage  and  entered  the  very 
spacious  harbour,  the  Admiral  said  to  his  Flag- 
captain,  '  Reduce  speed,'  naming  the  revolutions. 
This  he  did  not  mean  for  a  signal  to  the  ships  astern 
of  him,  but  by  an  error  it  was  hoisted. 

297 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

At  that  time  the  Howe  was  passing  a  small 
bay  on  her  port  hand,  and  seeing  the  signal  she 
reduced  her  speed.  She  was  already  rather  too 
much  in  the  bay,  and  this,  the  slower  speed,  and 
the  flood  tide  taking  her  on  her  starboard  quarter 
caused  her  to  be  swept  on  to  an  uncharted  rock, 
where  she  remained  with  her  port  bilge  ripped 
open.  Her  captain  was  a  very  good  officer,  also 
young  for  his  position,  already  distinguished, 
and  with  the  best  of  service  prospects.  The 
result  was  his  professional  ruin.  I  only  mention 
this,  not  so  much  to  blame  him — it  might  have 
happened  to  others — but  to  show  how  precarious 
is  the  career  of  a  naval  officer,  and  how  one 
minute's  error  (even  in  peace  time)  may  mean 
professional  ruin,  or  the  loss  of  the  ship. 

As  regards  the  tribunal  part  of  the  matter 
and  myself,  I  will  only  shortly  say  that  I  was 
told  to  hold  a  court  of  inquiry  at  once  to  say  if 
the  rock  was  known  or  not,  and  a  few  other  details, 
but  not  to  apportion  the  blame. 

The  Vice-Admiral  and  some  ships  were  ordered 
home,  and  a  court  martial  was  held  at  Portsmouth 
to  try  the  Captain  of  the  Howe,  but  with  very  little 
result ;  so  a  second  court  martial  was,  several 
weeks  after,  held  at  Devonport  to  try  the  Vice- 
Admiral.  For  this  I  was  ordered  to  England, 
and  put  in  the,  I  think,  rather  unusual  position 
of  being  distinctly  asked  to  state  what  were  the 
causes  of  the  Howe  running  aground. 

As  m}^  flagship  was  astern  of  her,  with  only 
one  ship  between  us,  I,  of  course,  knew  all  about  it. 
and  said  what  I  knew,  and  gave  the  four  causes. 

298 


PREPARATIOiNt)  rw..  .  ^  ^.M.S.  HOWE 

But  it  is  now  long  past,  and  I  will  proceea  w.  :ome 
account  of  the  Howe's  being  salved. ^ 

By  daylight  on  3rd  November  the  ship  assumed 
the  following  position,  heeling  20°  to  starboard, 
and  her  bow  tipped  down  10°,  and  in  this 
position  without  the  least  movement  she  remained 
for  loi  days.  At  high  tide  her  forepart  and  all 
her  starboard  side  were  well  under  water,  and  she 
had  12,000  tons  of  sea  water  inside  her.  Had  she 
been  exposed  to  wave  action  she  could,  of  course, 
not  have  been  saved,  but  would  have  broken  up. 

The  Admiralty  left  me  at  Ferrol  in  charge  of 
a  small  squadron  to  guard  the  wreck  and  help  to 
salve  her  ;  the  contract  for  the  salvage  being  given 
to  the  Neptune  Salvage  Company  of  Stockholm, 
on  the  excellent  principle  of  '  no  cure  no  pay,'  i.e. 
that  the  Company  agreed  to  convey  the  Howe 
within  six  months  to  the  gates  of  the  dry  dock 
in  the  '  Darcena  '  or  floating  basin  at  Ferrol  for 
£35>ooo. 

The  superintendent  of  the  Salvage  Company's 
people  sent  was  Captain  Edlind,  who  was  both  a 
very  able  man  and  one  perfect  to  work  with. 
Three  steamers  were  sent,  and  were  lashed  along- 
side the  Howe,  all  having  very  powerful  steam 
pumps  on  board.  The  Howe  was  on  a  rocky 
shoal  of  hard  granite  for  quite  half  her  length, 
the  bow  and  stern  off  the  ground,  with  deep  water 
on  her  starboard  beam,  and  this  we  were  always 

'  If  anyone  wishes  to  study  this  subject  let  them  read  the 
admirable  account  of  it  by  the  late  Rear-Admiral  G.  T.  H.  Boyes. 
then  my  Flag-captain,  called  Salvage  Operations  :  the  Floating  of 
H.M.  Battleship  Howe. 

299 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

afraid  of  her  tumbling  off  into,  or  indeed  of  her 
capsizing. 

The  damages  were  mostly  on  the  port  side,  and 
it  may  give  some  idea  of  them  to  say,  that  after 
the  ship  was  got  into  dock  at  Ferrol,  I  could 
stand  on  a  temporary  flooring  where  the  bottom 
of  the  ship  used  to  be,  and  holding  one  hand 
over  my  head  could  not  touch  where  the  ship's 
bottom  plates  had  been  driven  up  to.  It  was 
mainly  a  question  of  divers'  work. 

The  Salvage  Company  had,  of  course,  first-rate 
divers,  but  our  own  were  specially  useful  for  the 
intricate  inside  of  the  ship.  This  was  a  very 
dangerous  part,  and  one  da}^  we  nearly  lost  some 
men  at  it,  by  their  air-pipes  getting  jammed. 
The  steps  to  be  taken  were,  generally  speaking, 
these  : 

1.  Remove  by   blasting   the   rocks   that   had 

penetrated  the  ship. 

2.  Build  a  wooden  coffer  dam,  or  flooring,  to 

do  temporary  duty  as  ship's  bottom  on 
port  side. 

3.  Stop  up  also  by  this  or  other  means  any 

holes  on  the  starboard  side  not   at  first 
possible  to  discover. 

4.  When  sufficiently  watertight  pump  her  out 

and  float  her. 

For  the  first  the  blasting  charges  had  to  be 
small  so  as  not  to  injure  the  ship's  frame,  &c. 

For  the  second  careful  measurements  had 
to  be  made  by  the  divers,  and  wooden  frames 
made  in  accordance. 

300 


PRECAUTIONS  IN  SALVAGE  OPERATIONS 

For  the  third,  if  and  when  possible,  as  for  the 
second. 

For  the  fourth,  the  pumping  power  of  the 
three  salvage  steamers  and  of  all  other  pumps 
the  squadron  could  provide. 

By  degrees  we  made  watertight  and  pumped 
out  the  uninjured  after  compartments  of  the  ship, 
and,  of  course,  we  moved  all  weights  not  fixtures 
in  her,  except  her  four  67-ton  guns.  There  would 
have  been  immense  difficulty  in  getting  them 
out,  owing  to  the  great  heel  of  the  ship  and  the 
very  strong  shears  required,  so  they  were  left 
in  place. 

It  was  most  important  not  to  let  the  ship 
move  on  her  bed  till  ready  to  lift,  because  if 
she  did  so  she  would  destroy  the  work  referred 
to  in  the  second  and  third  categories  above. 
Partly  to  prevent  this  and  also  to  prevent  her 
slipping  off  to  starboard  into  deep  water,  we  got 
every  steel  wire  hawser  we  could,  at  least  ten  of 
them,  and  made  them  fast  from  the  ship  to 
anchors  and  rocks  on  the  shore.  These  hawsers  at 
low  tide  were  as  taut  as  harp  strings,  and  the 
chain  cables  of  the  salvage  steamers  lay  over 
them  like  a  watch  chain  would  over  your 
finger. 

Indeed  I  wrote  to  the  Admiralty  and  said :  *  If 
one  of  these  wire  hawsers  parts,  the  name  of 
the  hero  of  the  ist  June  1794  will  have  to  be 
scratched  off  the  Navy  List  !  ' 

One  great  difficulty  was  that  the  so-called 
watertight  compartments  were  not  so,  but  leaked 
very  much,  besides  which  water  passed  through 

301 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

the  ventilation  arrangements;  the  mud,  shme 
and  dirt  covering  everything  as  the  water  was 
cleared  from  below,  and  the  bad  smell  was  almost 
beyond  belief.  The  plan  of  salvage,  the  skilled 
diving  work,  building  a  false  bottom  to  the  ship, 
and  pumping  her  out,  were  all  entirely  due  to  the 
Salvage  Company ;  but  we  in  the  squadron  were 
constantl}^  at  work  at  the  Howe,  and  without  us  a 
far  larger  staff  and  number  of  men  from  the 
Company  must  have  been  necessary,  and  probably 
more  steamers. 

On  the  3rd  February,  just  three  months  after 
she  grounded,  the  first  attempt  was  made  to 
pump  her  out  and  float  her  off  the  rocks,  but  it 
failed.  Steps  were  now  taken  to  keep  the  water 
out  by  coffer  dams  inside  the  ship.  As  a  result 
of  this  on  the  nth  February,  after  no  movement 
for  loi  days,  she  righted  one  degree,  which  was 
hailed  with  as  much  delight  as  a  first-born  infant's 
first  articulate  word  is  by  its  mother.  After  this 
the  ship  gradually  righted  more,  and  our  hopes 
rose  in  proportion. 

The  Howes  complement  had  been  reduced 
to  her  Commander,  Charles  Windham — now  a 
Rear- Admiral  —  and  a  few  offtcers.  Windham 
lived  in  the  wreck,  and  showed  a  good  example  to 
all,  which  was  followed.  The  carpenter,  Mr.  J. 
Rice,  was  a  host  in  himself,  and  was  afterwards 
rewarded  by  being  made  carpenter  of  the  Royal 
Yacht. 

We  now  set  to  work  to  make  collision  mats  to 
place'under  the  ship,  and  in  all  seven  such  were 
placed.     Divers  with   iron  bodkins,  some  twelve 

302 


-fiUKk^.  ..<*«.»•>? 


FLOATING  OF  H.M.S.  HOWE 

feet  long,  worked  them  through  under  the  keel, 
a  rope  bemg  fast  to  the  bodkin's  eye,  and  to  this 
rope  a  chain  made  fast  to  the  mat. 

Of  course  we  had  complete  stations  prepared 
and  known  for  the  duties  required  if  the  ship 
was  floated ;  in  view  also  of  the  possibility  of  her 
sinking  again  in  deep  water,  arrangements  to  try 
and  save  the  men  in  her.  The  Seahorse,  a  man-of- 
war  steamer,  all  steamboats,  and  the  pulling 
boats  of  the  squadron  had  their  stations,  and 
knew  if  the  signal  BX  was  made  at  any  hour  what 
to  do  ;  and  two  possible  beaching  places  were 
examined  and  selected.  The  above  *  stations  ' 
employed  on  board  the  Howe  412  officers  and  men, 
besides  those  belonging  to  her. 

On  27th  March  the  first  attempt  was  made  to 
float  and  haul  the  ship  off  the  shoal,  but  failed, 
as  did  two  subsequent  attempts. 

At  last  the  great  day  arrived ;  on  30th  March  at 
about  2  P.M.  the  Howe  was  floated  off  the  shoal 
that  she  had  lain  on  for  148  days.  Everyone 
was  at  their  station  by  the  signal  BX.  The 
steamers  and  steamboats  were  ready  and  only 
high  water  awaited.  The  pumps  were  set  to  work, 
the  decrease  of  water  anxiously  watched  inside 
the  ship,  as  well  as  at  her  water-line  outside. 
Soon  a  slight  movement  in  the  vessel  was  apparent, 
the  securing  hawsers  were  slacked,  and  the  towing 
vessels  started. 

The  Howes  head  pays  off  slightly  to  starboard ; 
she  is  alive  again  ;  her  winter  fetters  are  cast  off  ; 
she  moves  ahead;  she  is  free.  \K'\\\  her  tender 
patches  give  way ,  and  will  she  sink  in  deep  water  ? 

303 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

This  question  may  just  occur  to  the  mind,  but 
success  is  the  predominant  feehng. 

I  cannot  express  our  dehght,  it  was  almost 
Hke  winning  a  victory.  The  men  cheered,  and  the 
ships'  bands  as  we  approached  them  played 
'  Rule,  Britannia.' 

We  anchored  the  ship  in  Malata  Bay,  an 
inlet  of  this  splendid  harbour,  and  there  placed 
under  her  a  specially  prepared  pad  made  of  thin 
deal  planks,  so  fitted  as  to  be  flexible  and  fit  tight 
round  the  ship,  and  frapped  firmly  round  her, 
outside  all  the  other  mats  and  patches.  We  now 
were  able  to  pump  out  nearly  all  of  the  2500  tons 
of  water  still  in  her  when  floated. 

On  13th  April  we  got  the  Howe  into  the  floating 
basin,  and  on  the  17th  into  the  dry  dock  and  in 
safety.  On  arrival  off  it,  we  were  still  uncertain  if  she 
would  get  in  owing  to  her  size  and  abnormal  draft, 
but  the  Salvage  Company  had  earned  their  money, 

I  should  now  say  a  few  words  about  our  social 
life  at  Ferrol. 

It  is  a  purely  naval  port  and  was  once  the 
scene  of  much  activity.  By  nature  it  is,  perhaps, 
the  finest  naval  port  I  know,  being  thoroughly 
sheltered  from  the  sea,  with  a  narrow  entrance, 
having  high  sides  that,  fortified,  could  keep  any 
enemy  out,  and  also  keep  him  far  away  from  the 
town  and  inside  shipping ;  yet  approachable 
by  ships  at  all  times  and  tides,  if  properly  surveyed, 
buoyed,  and  lighted. 

Inside  is  a  fine  expanse  of  water  deep  enough,  but 
not  too  deep ;  and  beyond  this  hills  round  its  land 
side  on  which  forts  could  be  put  for  inland  defences, 

304 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AT  FERROL 

The  Governor  was  the  Captain-General  Vice- 
Admiral  Jose  de  Carranza,  a  dignified  Spanish 
Don,  speaking  EngUsh  well,  and  always  assisting 
us  in  every  way  he  could.  ^ 

He  and  his  Sefiora  had  a  reception  every 
Thursday  evening,  to  which  some  of  us  always 
went.  There  were  many  ladies  there,  and  our 
acquaintance  among  them  was  large ;  but  among 
them  not  one  spoke  English,  and  only  five 
spoke  French. 

Our  nation  are  bad  linguists.  My  Flag-captain, 
Boyes,  already  knew  Spanish,  but  hardly  one  other 
officer  in  the  squadron  knew  a  word  of  it.  I, 
my  Flag-lieutenant  (now  Captain  Douglas  Nichol- 
son), and  another  officer  set  to  work  to  learn  it. 

There  was  only  one  English  family  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Our  Vice-Consul,  Sefior  Emilio 
Anton,  did  all  that  was  possible  to  help  us,  as 
did  the  officials  generally  ;  but  an  extraordinary 
thing  was  that  the  peasantry  were,  as  a  rule,  very 
rude,  and  became  if  anything  worse  during  our 
stay.  Why  I  cannot  say,  unless  it  is  religious 
animosity,  and  in  order  to  show  their  disapproval 
of  heretics. 

While  I  was  at  Ferrol  the  Admiralty  told 
me  to  look  after  the  cemetery  of  the  crew  of  the 
Serpent.  H.M.S.  Serpent,  a  steam  sloop,  was 
lost    on    loth    November    1890    close    to    Cape 

'  The  Queen  was  pleased  to  appoint  the  Captain-General 
to  be  a  Knight  Commander  of  St.  Michael  and  St.  George  ;  and 
various  pieces  of  plate  were  presented  by  the  Admiralty  to 
Spanish  officials  at  Ferrol.  Captain  Edlind,  of  the  Neptune 
Salvage  Co.,  was  also  made  aCompanion  of  the  Order  of  St.  Michael 
and  St.  George. 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

Trece,  about  thirty  miles  north-east  of  Cape 
Villano  in  Spain.  Both  these  names  are  of  ill- 
omen.  '  Villano '  means  villain,  and  'trece'  is 
thirteen  in  Spanish,  and  held  by  them  as  an 
unlucky  number. 

The  Serpent  was  outward  bound  to  the  west 
coast  of  Africa,  and  of  a  crew  of  175  only  three 
were  saved — no  officers.  Most  of  the  bodies  were 
washed  on  shore  and  buried  by  the  Spaniards  near 
the  spot.  The  graves  were  surrounded  by  a  wall, 
whose  interior  was  divided  into  two-thirds  and 
one-third  by  a  high  wall.  In  the  smaller  space 
they  buried  all  they  considered  to  be  Roman 
Catholics,  and  in  the  larger  space  the  others. 
I  tried  to  find  out  how  they  arrived  at  the  above, 
but  could  not.  I  suppose  every  man  who  had  a 
woman  tattooed  on  him  was  taken  as  a  Roman 
Catholic.  Many  sailors  have  women  tattooed 
on  them.  Probably  the  Serpent  had,  at  most,  a 
dozen  Roman  Catholics. 

It  was  a  question  of  putting  the  place  to 
rights.  I  suggested  that  as  on  board  ship  they 
had  got  on  all  right  together,  a  wall  was  not 
required  to  keep  order,  but  this  I  fear  shocked 
the  natives. 

The  cura  of  the  parish  was  a  delightful  man, 
and  a  very  sporting  character.  The  Admiralty 
had,  in  reward  for  his  attention  after  the  wTeck, 
offered  him  a  present,  and  he  had  asked  for  a 
first-rate  sporting  gun ;  and  I  was  now  able  to 
supply  him  with  a  lot  of  cartridges  of  the  same 
gauge. 

Several  other  vessels  in  the  last  few  years  had 
306 


GOOD  FRIDAY  CELEBRATIONS 

been  lost  near  the  same  spot,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
often  an  inset  on  that  coast. 

The  Howe  having  been  got  off,  we  resolved  to 
celebrate  the  event,  and  so  hired  the  theatre 
in  Ferrol  and  gave  a  great  ball  in  it.  Dancing 
took  place  in  the  auditorium,  which  was  arranged 
so  that  such  a  thing  could  be  done.  We  had  the 
supper  on  the  stage,  but  before  it  began  I  made 
them  a  speech  in  my  best  Spanish — not  very  good 
at  that ;  but  I  am  bound  to  say  I  worked  it  well  up 
beforehand. 

We  were  at  Ferrol  in  Lent,  and  at  Easter.  On 
Good  Friday  there  was  a  great  religious  procession, 
the  officers  walking  in  it  in  full  dress.  The  ships 
had  their  yards  topped  at  angles,  and  rigging 
slacked  off.  Several  images  were  carried  in  the 
procession,  and  on  Easter  Eve  a  religious  salute  of 
fifteen  guns  was  fired. 

When  the  Howe  had  been  got  into  dock  we 
felt  she  was  safe ;  but  shoreing  her  up  there,  with 
her  bottom  nearly  gone,  was  a  difiicult  job. 
Finally  a  sort  of  temporary  bottom  of  wood  was 
fitted  to  her. 

When  the  engine-room  was  emptied  of  water, 
instead  of  the  machinery  being  found  all  rusty 
it  was  in  good  condition,  as  the  great  quantity 
of  oil  afloat  on  the  water  deposited  itself  on  the 
metal  as  the  water  fell,  and  so  kept  the  air  off 
and  prevented  rust. 

The  Howe  was  fifty-eight  days  in  the  dry  dock  ; 
her  stores,  &c.,  were  then  replaced,  her  engines 
tried  running  round  the  harbour,  and  on  the 
i8th  June,  after  229  days,  we  left  Ferrol  with  her 

307  X2 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

for  England.  Everything  was  prepared  to  tow  her, 
but  she  steamed  home  at  eight  knots,  and  I 
deposited  her  safely  at  Sheerness.i 

I  returned  in  the  Anson  to  Devonport,  and  on 
arrival  heard  the  dreadful  news  of  the  loss  of 
H.M.S.  Victoria  in  the  Mediterranean. 

Our  next  job  was  the  naval  manoeuvres  off 
the  coast  of  Ireland  and  in  the  St.  George's 
Channel.  I  will  not  describe  them,  but  only 
say  that  one  day  an  odd  thing  occurred.  Our 
Fleet  was  just  sighting  the  'enemy'  at  sea,  the 
two  approaching  each  other,  when  a  thick  fog 
came  on  and  lasted  some  hours.  What  a  difficult 
position  had  it  been  real  war  ! 

After  the  manoeuvres  I  was  ordered  to  Chatham 
to  change  flagships,  the  Ansoit  turning  over  to 
the  Empress  of  India.  On  our  way  a  man  was 
lost  in  a  curious  way.  The  sea  was  calm,  the 
weather  fine  and  warm,  the  ship  steaming  full 
speed.  A  seaman  fell  overboard  and  the  life-buoy 
was  let  go  close  to  him,  but  it  being  in  the  centre 
of  the  stern  it  was  towed  along  in  the  wake  of  the 
ship,  and  the  man  could  not  reach  it,  and  was 
drowned. 

The  Empress  of  India  was  a  new  ship,  sister  to 
the  Royal  Sovereign,  and  a  great  improvement 
on  the  Anson  in  nearly  all  ways.  As  regards  her 
personnel,  I  never  was  in  a  ship  where  all  the 
officers,  from  the  captain  downwards,  got  on  so 
well  and  so  happily  together. 

>  She  was  at  once  docked  at  Chatham,  and  repaired  with  all 
despatch.  In  a  few  months  she  was  re-coramissioned  and  went 
to  the  Mediterranean. 

308 


GIBRALTAR  AND  THE  BALEARIC  ISLANDS 

In  October  the  Channel  Fleet  assembled  and 
we  went  to  Gibraltar  and  to  the  Balearic  Islands. 

At  Palma  in  Majorca  wc  made  acquaintance 
with  the  Austrian  Archduke  Lewis  Salvador  and 
visited  him  at  his  country  place  Miramar  He 
lived  alone  there,  abjured  all  ceremony  and  state, 
and  almost  the  comforts  of  life  ;  spoke  several 
languages,  English  for  one.  The  Archduke  was 
most  kind  to  me,  and  gave  me  the  copy  of  a  large 
book  he  had  written  about  these  islands. 

At  Majorca,  the  Canary  Islands,  and  the 
Philippine  Islands,  the  Spanish  Captain-General, 
or  Governor,  was  forbidden  to  return  any  visit 
afloat  ;  the  reason  given  being  that  one  such 
official  was  once  carried  off  in  a  ship. 

We  were  much  at  Gibraltar,  and  enjoyed  both 
the  Calpe  Hounds  and  some  paperchases,  perhaps 
the  last  most. 


309 


CHAPTER  XXV 

SECOND  IN  COMMAND  CHANNEL  SQUADRON  (continued) 

A  Duel  at  Gibraltar — Madeira — Canary  Islands — Vigo  Treasure 
Ships — Ceuta. 

I  AM  fond  of  looking  at  old  cemeteries  ;  you  ma}^ 
find  interesting  inscriptions.  In  one  of  the  above 
at  Gibraltar,  now  disused,  I  found  this  : 

To  the  memor}'  of  Midshipman  Seth  Amiel 
Wheaton,  of  the  United  States  Frigate 
Washington,  who  fell  a  victim  to  a  misplaced 
sense  of  honour  8  February  1817. 

The  story  was  told  me  by  Captain  McCleverty 
when  in  the  Terrible,  and  is  as  follows. 

The  above  frigate  came  to  Gibraltar,  and  was 
lying  in  the  anchorage.  A  party  of  her  officers,  who 
had  stayed  on  shore  late  one  night,  came  down  to 
the  *  Ragged  Staff '  to  go  off  to  their  ship.  The 
rules  about  entering  or  leaving  the  garrison  at 
night  are  now  strict,  and  were  even  more  so  then. 
The  sentry  stopped  the  officer,  and  sent  for  the 
sergeant  of  the  guard,  who  in  his  turn  called  out 
the  officer  of  the  guard,  a  subaltern,  who  conferred 

310 


ANECDOTE  OF  A  DUEL  AT  GIBRALTAR 

with  the  U.S.  officers,  and  regretting  his  inabihty  to 
let  them  embark,  offered  what  accommodation 
he  could  for  the  night. 

They,  however,  got  angry,  and  made  out  they 
were  insulted.  The  next  day  the  subaltern 
received  a  challenge  to  fight  a  duel,  and  as  such 
things  were  done  then,  and  he  was  young,  and  the 
other  was  a  foreign  officer,  he  felt  he  must  fight,  did 
so  and  was  killed. 

The  surgeon  of  his  regiment,  who  was  a  great 
friend  of  his,  was  very  angry,  and  happened  to  be 
a  very  good  shot  with  a  pistol.  He  waited  till  the 
officer  who  had  killed  his  friend  landed,  and  then 
insulted  him,  so  that  he  had  to  challenge  the  surgeon 
whose  reputation  as  above  was  well  known,  and 
who  gave  out  that  he  would  kill  his  man. 

They  met  on  the  neutral  ground  outside  the 
Rock  lines  ;  the  American  had  his  hand  in  a  bucket 
of  water  to  cool  it,  seeing  which  the  Englishman 
said :  '  It  is  not  much  good  for  I  'm  certainly 
going  to  shoot  you,'  which  he  did  and  killed  him. 
He  then  turned  to  the  dead  man's  second  and 
said  :  '  This  will  do  for  to-day,  but  whenever 
any  of  you  land  I  will  insult  them,  and  kill  them 
all  in  turns.' 

The  United  States  Commodore,  i.e.  Captain, 
complained  to  the  Governor,  who  said  he  would  not 
interfere,  so  they  sailed. 

Leaving  Gibraltar  we  spent  Christmas  at 
Arosa  Bay,  again  visiting  St.  lago  de  Compostella, 
which  in  1889  had  for  me  completed  the  four  great 
Christian  pilgrimages  of  the  world,  viz.  Jerusalem, 
Rome,    Loretto,    and    this    last.      The    town    is 

311 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

essentially  sombre  of  aspect,  and  the  Cathedral  of 
dark  stone  is  especially  so. 

I  twice  visited  Oporto,  a  pleasant  town  on  the 
high  banks  of  the  Doiiro.  They  say  no  one  has 
the  gout  there  because  they  drink  enough  port 
wine,  and  that  medicine  is  certainly  good.  You  see 
it  kept  in  immense  wooden  vats  where  it  is  refined. 
I  was  told  that  one  vat  held  237  pipes  of  115 
gallons  each,  and  that  in  six  or  seven  years  it  was 
lit  to  drink.  I  was  also  told  that  the  Russians  like 
white  port,  and  that  England  buys  most  of  the 
best  wine.  Many  of  the  houses  in  Oporto  are 
covered  outside  with  bright  glazed  tiles  with 
patterns  on  them,  which  much  enliven  the  aspect 
of  the  streets. 

From  Arosa  we  went  to  Vigo,  and  thence  to 
Madeira.  Here  the  Empress  of  India  distinguished 
herself  by  giving  a  performance  of  '  Romeo  and 
Juliet,'  travestied,  in  the  theatre  on  shore  to  a 
crowded  audience.  I  wrote  a  song  for  it,  which 
was  sung.  The  performers  were  officers ;  the 
present  Commodore  Rosslyn  Wemyss,  then  a 
lieutenant  in  the  Empress,  was  one  of  the  actors, 
and  I  think  was  also  stage  manager. 

We  left  Madeira  with  great  regret,  and  went  to 
the  Canary  Islands,  calling  at  Las  Palmas  in  Grand 
Canary  ;  our  ship  rolled  here  though  angle  of 
20°  at  anchor.  This  class  of  vessels  all  rolled 
heavily  till  bilge  keels  were  fitted  to  them,  mth 
a  good  result  that  surprised  all  the  scientific 
authorities  ;  but  naval  officers  had  pressed  for 
them.  Here  we  came  in  for  the  carnival,  and  saw 
much  of  the  Spanish  society. 

312 


'ROMEO  AND  JULIET'— HIDDEN  TREASURE 

Opinions  differ  about  the  Canary  Islands  and 
Madeira  as  winter  health  resorts  for  invalids. 
Of  course  the  Canaries  being  nearer  the  equator, 
and  with  no  other  thing  to  interfere,  their  climate 
is  warmer  than  that  of  Madeira.  But  in  favour 
of  Madeira  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  it  is  about 
one  thousand  years  ahead  of  the  Canaries  by 
nature,  and  one  hundred  years  by  civilisation. 

We  returned  in  a  few  weeks  to  Gibraltar.  On 
reaching  Cape  Spartel  in  the  night  we  got  suddenly 
into  a  strong  levanter,  and  the  ships  pitched  so  that 
theVice- Admiral's  cabin  was  suddenly  flooded  about 
four  feet  deep,  to  the  astonishment  of  his  guest  who 
was  in  bed,  and  to  the  destruction  of  his  furniture. 

I  again  visited  Ceuta  and  confirmed  my 
opinion  that,  though  a  mole  harbour  could  be 
made  more  cheaply  than  at  Gibraltar,  it  is  not  as 
suitable  for  a  defensive  fortress. 

At  Gibraltar  our  theatrical  part 3^  from  the 
Empress  of  India  gave  *  Romeo  and  Juliet '  in  the 
Assembly  Rooms  to  a  full  house,  and  had  great 
applause. 

From  the  Rock  we  went  to  Vigo.  There  had 
lately  been  efforts  made  to  recover  treasure  from 
some  Spanish  galleons  that  ran  in  here  at  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  I  first 
heard  the  story  when  here  in  1873,  but  the  company 
was  only  starting  then.  Our  Consul — a  Spanish 
gentleman — told  it  to  us,  and  said  that  before 
investing  any  money  he  made  inquiries  in  the 
archives  of  the  province,  and  decided  that  the 
treasure  had  been  landed  before  the  English 
squadron  followed  the  Spanish  ships  in  and  sank 

313 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

them.  However,  in  spite  of  this  a  company  was 
promoted  in  Paris  to  get  the  treasure.  Their  ship 
entered  Vigo  harbour  with  great  eclat  ;  a  diver 
went  down  and  came  up  with  an  ingot,  which  was 
sent  off  to  Paris,  and  raised  the  shares  for  those 
who  were  in  the  swim  to  benefit  by. 

Much  later  I  was  approached  in  London  to  join 
another  company  on  the  same  ground,  and  I 
related  to  them  the  above  at  greater  length — with 
what  result  I  am  not  aware.  I  know  of  several 
other  treasure  hunts  in  different  parts  of  the 
world,  and  I  quite  understand  their  fascination, 
but  I  have  never  known  one  that  succeeded. 

From  Vigo  we  went  to  Arosa  Bay.  Near  here 
are  streams  in  which  trout  fishing  should  be  good  if 
the  natives  did  not  poach  the  fish  anyhow  they  can. 

We  arrived  in  Pl^^mouth  Sound,  and  on  24th 
April  1894  I  hauled  my  flag  down  and  went  to 
London  to  a  new  appointment. 

The  Second  in  Command  of  the  Channel 
Squadron  then  was  a  very  unsatisfying  position, 
because  he  had  not  enough  work  to  do.  Now 
squadrons  are  larger,  this  fault  has  been  somewhat 
rectified.  When  with  a  rear-admiral  under  me 
I  have  tried  to  improve  this  matter  by  giving  him 
work,  for  all  good  reasons. 

No  good  officer  likes  to  find  himself  without 
work  and  responsibility,  and  if  he  has  none  a 
fault  exists  somewhere.  I  was  truly  sorry  to 
leave  my  flagship  and  all  the  officers  and  men 
in  her,  also  to  part  from  my  friend  and  superior, 
Vice-Admiral  Fairfax,  but  I  was  not  sorry  to  end 
the  appointment. 

314 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

ADMIRAL-SUPERINTENDENT   OF  NAVAL   RESERVES 

The    Naval    Reserves    and     Coastguard — Naval    Manoeuvres — 
Coastguard's  Duties — Eagle  Island. 

On  25th  April  1894  I  relieved  Vice-Admiral 
Sir  Robert  Fitzroy  as  Admiral-Superintendent  of 
Naval  Reserves.  This  was  a  very  interesting 
appointment.  The  position  of  Admiral-Superin- 
tendent of  Naval  Reserves  then  combined  all  the 
Coastguard  both  afloat  and  on  shore  ;  also  in- 
spections of  all  Royal  Naval  Reserve  drill  batteries 
and  stations,  the  Royal  Naval  Artillery  Volun- 
teers, and  the  inspection  of  the  Worcester  and 
Conway  training  ships  for  young  officers  for  the 
mercantile  marine  ;  and  of  all  those  boys'  training 
ships  round  our  coasts,  that  were  not  in  any  way 
reformatories,  and  from  which  we  might  take 
boys  into  the  Navy. 

Added  to  the  above  was  more  strictly  naval 
work,  viz.  inspecting  the  Coastguard  ships,  and 
organising  and  commanding  in  the  summer  the 
squadron  composed  of  them,  and  of  other  mobi- 
lised ships,  for  that  year's  naval  manoeuvres. 
Much  of  the  above  is  quite  changed  now,  and  the 
appointment  is  quite  different. 

315 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

In  the  summer  I  went  to  sea  with  my  flag 
in  the  Alexandra,  and  commanded  one  of  the 
manoeuvring  fleets.  I  had  to  visit  (or  should 
visit)  and  inspect  every  Coastguard  station  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  and  see  that  all  the  houses 
for  the  4500  men  were  kept  in  order.  I  have  been 
into  every  room  of,  I  may  say,  the  4500  houses  ! 
In  short,  there  was  plenty  to  do. 

The  office  was  in  London  near  the  Admiralty, 
and  I  had  a  very  fine  official  steam  yacht  called 
the  Haivk  to  go  about  in  as  I  felt  right. 

The  naval  manoeuvres  this  summer,  of  course, 
specially  interested  me  because  I  was  in  command 
of  the  two  squadrons  on  one  side.  We  were  the 
Blue  Fleet,  and  our  enemy  the  Red  one.  Red 
consisted  of  two  squadrons,  called  A  and  B  ;  Blue 
of  two  also,  called  C  and  D. 

They  united  were  superior  to  us  when  we  also 
were  united,  but  they  had  to  start  their  two 
squadrons  from  different  places  and  meet  if  they 
could.  My  object  was  to  catch  them  singly. 
Each  of  the  four  squadrons  started  from  different 
places — out  at  sea.  These  places  were  not  known 
to  the  other  side. 

We  knew  Red's  object  was  to  unite  in  the  St. 
George's  Channel,  and  had  reason  to  believe  that 
one  of  them  to  do  this  would  pass  in  round  the 
North  of  Ireland. 

I  joined  company  with  my  D  Squadron  off 
the  Isle  of  Man,  then  united  and  went  to  patrol 
the  narrow  channel  between  that  island  and  the 
Mull  of  Cantyre.  The  details  of  our  cruise  are, 
of  course,  many,  but  would  weary  the  reader  ;   so 

316 


NAVAL  MANCEUVRES— COASTGUARD'S  DUTIES 

I  will  only  say  that  eventually  my  object  was 
attained.  I  got  into  close  quarters  with  B  first, 
and  afterwards  with  A,  both  singly  ;  and  was 
adjudged  to  have  won. 

I  must  however  remark,  as  I  have  before,  that 
which  side  is  supposed  to  have  won  matters  not  a 
bit,  and  winning  is  very  much  chance.  Also  that 
each  fleet  after  fighting  a  supposed  action,  even 
if  victorious,  should  be  lowered  as  to  her  '  points  ' 
of  power ;  for  in  real  warfare,  though  victorious, 
she  would  certainly  be  weakened  till  repaired, 
&c.,  even  if  no  ships  were  actually  sunk,  which  I 
think  some  would  be. 

I  had  this  appointment  just  over  three  years  ; 
one  did  not  want  much  leave,  because  the  duties 
and  localities  were  so  varied,  that  the  series  of 
changes  did  instead. 

In  the  beginning  of  1895  we  had  the  hardest 
frost  I  have  ever  seen  in  England  :  it  began  26th 
January  and  lasted  till  19th  Februar}'.  The 
Serpentine  bore  immense  crowds  of  skaters,  and 
the  Thames  was  frozen  over  at  London,  and 
was  covered  with  seagulls,  who  now  learned  to 
come  up  for  their  season,  and  have  continued  to 
do  so  since. 

I  place  a  high  value  on  the  Coastguard,  as  a 
thoroughly  dependable  body  of  well-trained  men 
for  a  Naval  Reserve  ;  and  for  what  the  term 
*  Coastguard  '  means,  also  as  applied  to  the  pro- 
tection and  saving  of  life  and  property  in  cases 
of  shipwreck.  One  of  my  predecessors  in  the 
office  made  out  a  list  of  various  duties  that  the 
Coastguard  performed.     I  added  to  them,  making 

317 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

about  sixteen  in  all,  and  1  had  some  hundreds  of 
copies  printed,  one  of  which  was  put  up  in  every 
station's  watch-room,  so  that  any  inquirer  could 
see  how  important  the  Coastguard  is. 

I  was  often  agreeably  struck  with  the  great 
respect  with  which  both  the  officers  and  men 
were  invariably  treated  by  their  civilian  neigh- 
bours. This  is  a  subject  I  could  enlarge  on,  and 
I  regret  that  a  recent  influence  at  the  Admiralty, 
guided  by  a  spirit  that  thought  any  change  in  the 
Navy  must  be  an  improvement,  has  begun  to 
largely  reduce  the  Coastguard. 

In  1895  we  again  had  large  squadrons  at  sea, 
but  we  were  all  combined  for  tactical  exercises, 
probably  quite  as  useful  as  manoeuvres,  but  not 
so  popular  with  the  journalists. 

I  landed  once  on  Eagle  Island  off  Blacksod 
Bay  on  the  west  coast  of  Ireland,  and  saw  an 
astonishing  proof  of  what  the  sea  can  do.  Its  west 
side  faces  the  open  Atlantic,  the  cliff  being  almost 
precipitous,  but  having  in  one  part  a  very  steep 
incline,  slightly  curved  in — a  cleft,  in  fact,  running 
down  it.  On  the  top  of  this,  and  180  feet  above 
the  sea,  were  two  lighthouses,  and  between  them 
houses  for  the  lightkeepers  and  families,  with  a 
joining  wall.  In  December  1894,  during  a  violent 
westerly  gale,  the  sea  dashed  up  the  180  feet — in 
green  seas,  I  was  told — pouring  over  the  summit  of 
the  cliff,  and  with  such  force  as  to  destroy  some  of 
the  houses. 

In  1896  we  again  had  manoeuvres ;  our  side,  the 
Reserve  Fleet,  was  called  C  and  D  Squadrons,  and 
was  opposed  to  the  Channel  Fleet,  called  A  and  B 

318 


ENCOURAGEMENT  NEEDED 

Squadrons,  who  united  were  superior  to  us  ;  our 
object  was  to  defeat  our  enemy  separately  if  we 
could,  or  in  any  case  without  their  defeating  us 
to  get  into  Lough  Swilly. 

My  Second  in  Command  was  the  present 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet,  Sir  Arthur  Wilson,  who 
devised  a  very  wily  plan,  and  we  succeeded  in 
accomplishing  our  object. 

In  May  1897  I  finished  my  appointment  as 
Admiral-Superintendent  of  Naval  Reserves,  with 
the  knowledge  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  naval 
patriotic  feeling  in  the  country,  only  requiring 
to  be  encouraged  and  trained  to  usefulness.  But 
any  sea  training  must  be  thorough  to  be  of  value. 


319 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

CHINA   COMMAND 

Chusan  Island — Occupation  of  Wei-hai-wei — Nagasaki — Hanko^v 
— Nankin — Hong-Kong — Manilla — Formosa — Corea. 

That  autumn  (1897)  I  was  given  the  appointment 
of  Commander-in-Chief  of  our  squadron  in  China. 
This  was  without  doubt  the  best,  most  important, 
and  most  interesting  appointment  I  ever  held.  I 
do  not  mean  only  as  events  turned  out,  but  I 
consider  as  follows.  If  we  were  engaged  in  a 
European  war,  the  command  of  our  principal 
Fleet  in  home  waters  must  always  be  the  most 
important  naval  post  ;  and  it  certainly  is  so  now 
for  reasons  known  to  everyone.  But  the  China 
station  with  its  large  area,  its  ver}^  varied  shores 
and  interests — commercial  and  diplomatic — and 
with  the  momentous  questions  relating  to  the  new 
power  of  Japan,  the  awakening  of  China,  and  the 
Eastern  aspirations  of  Russia,  certainly  yielded 
to  none  in  interest  ten  or  twelve  years  ago. 

I  left  England  in  the  end  of  1897,  and  arriving 
at  Hong-Kong  by  mail  steamer,  I  hoisted  my  flag 
there  in  the  Alacrity,  which  is  the  Admiral's 
official  yacht,   and  proceeded  to  Chusan   Island, 

320 


IN   COMMAND  OF   THE   CHINA  STATION 

where  I  relieved  Admiral  Sir  Arthur  Buller  and 
took  command  of  the  China  Station. 

Chusan  Island,  off  the  mouth  of  the  Yang-tse 
River,  was  occupied  by  us  in  the  Opium  War, 
1839-42.  Its  strategic  position  is  undoubted,  and 
after  discussing  with  Admiral  Togo  in  Japan  the 
question  of  where  China,  when  she  got  a  navy, 
should  make  her  principal  naval  station,  he  gave  it 
to  me  as  his  opinion  that  it  should  be  at  Chusan. 
Captain  Mahan  has  said  that  the  first  requirement 
of  a  naval  port  is  being  in  the  right  geographical 
position,  and  few,  I  think,  dispute  that. 

Chusan  has  a  poor  harbour,  and  the  tides  are 
strong  ;  and  I  think  an  island,  qua  island,  inferior 
to  a  port  on  the  mainland  of  a  nation. 

In  April  our  squadron  all  met  at  Chifu,  in 
consequence  of  strained  relations  with  Russia, 
and  we  prepared  for  any  eventuality.  I  went  to 
Pekin  to  confer  with  our  Minister,  Sir  Claude 
Macdonald,  and  found  much  changed  since  I 
left  the  Peiho  and  Tiensin  twenty-eight  years 
before. 

The  Russians  having  now  got  a  lease  of  Port 
Arthur  from  the  Chinese,  our  Government  got  one 
for  Wei-hai-wei — the  period  named  being  *  as  long 
as  Russia  holds  Port  Arthur  ' ;  and  we  took  posses- 
sion of  our  new  territory  on  24th  May,  Queen 
Victoria's  birthday,  surely  an  auspicious  date. 

To  please  the  Chinese  we  arranged  that  the 
Japanese  who  were  in  possession  should  haul  their 
flag  down  on  23rd  May,  and  the  Chinese  flag  be 
hoisted  then  and  fly  till  the  24th  ;  so  that  we 
should  receive  the  place  from  them. 

321  Y 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

Perhaps  I  should  briefly  state  that  our  posses- 
sion called  Wei-hai-vvei  comprises  the  Island  of 
Leu-kung-tao  —  which  practically  shelters  the 
anchorage  in  the  bay,  so  named  from  the  walled 
town  called  Wei-hai-wei,  which  is  on  the  mainland 
at  the  west  side  of  the  ba}^  This  town  is  a  '  Fu  ' 
or  fortified  city,  and  as  such  is  highly  valued  by 
the  Chinese  ;  and  it  was  arranged  that  it  should 
preserve  its  autonomy,  though  it  actually  stood 
within  the  radius  of  ten  miles  measured  inland 
from  the  shore  all  round  the  bay  of  the  same  name, 
which  from  its  eastern  to  its  western  extreme  was, 
with  the  exception  of  this  town,  to  be  British 
territory. 

Outside  the  ten-mile  radius  was  to  be  another 
ten-mile  one,  neutral  to  us  and  the  Chinese — 
like  the  neutral  ground  at  Gibraltar  ;  and  the 
land  beyond  that  was  to  remain  Chinese  territory 
as  of  old.  This  arrangement  held  good  for  about 
eighteen  months,  when  we  got  the  Chinese  to  agree 
that  the  neutral  territory  should  be  simply  defined 
by  an  imaginary  line  running  north  and  south  at 
longitude  121°  40'  E.  across  the  Shantung  pro- 
montory— a  sensible  plan. 

As  a  comparison  of  sizes,  I  may  state  that  the 
island  of  Leu-kung-tao  (or  Prince  Leu's  island) 
is  about  two-thirds  of  the  area  of  the  rock  of 
Gibraltar. 

The  Navy  had  the  management  of  Wei-hai-wei 
entirely  for  over  a  year,  and  it  interested  me 
immensely.  Captain  G.  F.  King  Hall  of  the 
Narcissus  actually  took  over  the  Island  of  Leu- 
kung-tao,   and   I    appointed   his   First-lieutenant 

322 


WEI-HAI-WEI 

(now  Captain  Ernest  Gaunt)  to  be  the  actual 
Governor.  Both  these  officers  showed  what  is 
well  known,  viz.  that  a  real  sailor  can  fit  himself 
into  almost  any  office,  as  if  bred  to  it. 

The  Chinese  had  fortified  both  the  island  and 
the  mainland  well,  but  the  batteries  were  all 
ruined  by  the  Japanese  siege  and  capture  of  the 
place.  Indeed  the  word  '  ruin '  best  describes  the 
state  in  which  we  found  the  island,  town,  dock- 
yard, &c. 

Prince  Henry  of  Prussia,  as  Admiral  in  com- 
mand of  the  German  squadron  in  China,  visited 
me  at  Wei-hai-wei  a  few  days  after  our  occupation, 
and  walking  through  the  town  with  me  said :  '  It 
looks  as  if  there  had  been  an  earthquake,  and  all 
the  people  had  run  away.'  And  that  was  what  it 
did  look  like. 

We  set  to  work  to  make  the  place  as  useful 
as  possible  to  us  as  a  naval  station  ;  for  this, 
much  had  to  be  done.  I  will  not  inffict  details  on 
my  kind  readers,  but  in  praise  of  Wei-hai-wei 
geneially  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  no 
place  I  know  of  exists,  that  is  better  than  it  for 
the  health  and  discipline  of  a  squadron. 

I  set  my  officers  to  examine  and  survey  the 
whole  of  our  territor}^  both  afloat  and  on  shore. 
Later  on,  to  perfect  these  surveys,  a  surveying 
ship  and  a  corps  of  Royal  Engineers  were  sent,  and 
forts  were  commenced  to  be  adequate,  as  the 
expression  is,  to  refuse  the  anchorage  to  raiding 
cruisers.  These  forts  were  well  in  hand  when  I 
left  the  station,  but  the  home  authorities  then 
altered  their  minds  and  left  them  imfinished. 

323  »a 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

One  of  my  captains  taking  a  passage  in  a 
local  steamer  found  sitting  next  him  a  Chinese 
gentleman,  who  talked  good  English  and  said  : 
'  So  I  see  we  have  got  Wei-hai-wei.'  He  replied: 
'  Yes,  but  I  do  not  quite  understand,'  to  which  the 
Chinaman  answered  :  *  Oh,  I  'm  English,  I  was  born 
at  Hong-Kong.* 

A  celestial  who  came  from  Hong-Kong 

Said  '  In  spite  of  my  pigtail  so  long 

I  'm  a  Britisher  born,' 

And  he  spoke  with  much  scorn 

Of  the  heathen  Chinee  and  his  gong. 

It  is  sometimes  amusing  to  hear  how  the 
British  Bluejackets  mispronounce  some  ships' 
names.  For  instance  the  Hermione  is  called  as 
three  words,  '  her  my  own.'  When  that  ship 
joined  my  flag  I  thought  the  following  doggerel 
might  cure  the  above  error : 

Cried  the  yeoman  in  rapturous  tone, 

'  She  is  coming,  it  is  Her  my  own  '  ; 

Said  the  Midshipman,   '  Fie  on  ye, 

Call  her  "  Hermione," 

One  would  think  you  were  Darby  and  Joan.' 

The  summer  of  1898  I  spent  mostly  at  Wei- 
hai-wei,  but  I  visited  Japan,  for  the  too  short 
time  I  could  spare  ;  we  always  looked  upon  it  as 
our  holiday  resort,  and  every  ship  was  pleased 
when  I  sent  her  there. 

Nagasaki  was  the  best  known  place,  partly 
because  it  was  the  first  port  opened  to  Western 
nations,  but  also  because,  besides  being  a  very 
good  harbour,  it  was  the  nearest  to  get  to.  The 
Russian  men-of-war  most  of  all  frequented  it,  as 

3^4 


HANKOW  AND  NANKIN 

a  delightful  retreat  in  winter  from  ice-bound 
Vladivostok. 

In  the  autumn  I  went  up  the  Yang-tse  to 
Hankow,  where  I  called  on  the  Viceroy  Chang- 
Chih-Tung,  who  is  a  very  up-to-date  Chinese 
official. 

Lord  Charles  Beresford  was  at  Hankow  at 
the  same  time  on  his  commercial  mission  to  China,i 
and  soon  after  my  interview  with  the  Viceroy,  he 
also  had  one.  When  I  again  came  up  there,  the 
Consul,  who  always  was  present  as  interpreter  at 
official  visits,  told  me  that  the  next  time  he  saw 
the  Viceroy  after  Lord  Charles's  visit  the  Viceroy 
said  :  *  Is  Lord  Charles  Beresford  a  rebel  ?  '  and 
on  being  answered  in  the  negative,  explained 
that  he  thought  so  because  at  one  time  he 
had  said  to  the  Viceroy,  'Well,  if  our  Govern- 
ment won't  do  [something]  my  party  will  make 
them.' 

The  Yang-tse  differs  immensely  in  the  height 
of  its  waters  ;  in  the  late  spring  when  the  snows 
far  inland  melt,  the  river  at  Hankow  rises  fifty 
feet.  But  as  regards  Hankow  it  is  not  fifty  feet 
deeper  because  the  stream  brings  down  much  mud 
which  raises  the  bottom  temporarily  by  many 
feet. 

I  called  at  Nankin,  and  had  an  interview 
with  the  Viceroy,  who  is  styled  Viceroy  of  the 
'Two  Kiangs';  his  name  was  Liu-Kun-yi.  W^e 
made  great  friends  then,  and  while  I  was  in  China ; 
and  he  was  the  ideal  of  what  a  great  gentleman 
in  such  a  post  should  be.     During  the  disturbances 

'  See  his  book  The  break-up  of  China. 


;  MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

of  igoo  it  was  he  who  kept  the  Yang-tse  region 
quiet. 

The  question  of  Pekin  being  the  capital  of 
China,  instead  of  its  former  one,  Nankin,  seems  to 
me  much  as  if,  in  the  days  when  we  and  the  Scotch 
were  foohsh  enough  to  be  cutting  each  other's 
throats,  instead  of  combining  together,  they  had 
got  the  better  of  us,  and  then  moved  the  capital 
from  London  to  Carlisle. 

I  visited  the  Kiang-yin  forts,  by  permission 
of  the  Viceroy.  They  are  on  the  heights  a  few 
miles  below  Nankin,  a  commanding  site  which,  if 
properly  armed  and  held,  with  the  river  passage 
well  mined,  would  quite  bar  the  river  to  an  enemy. 

That  winter  was  spent  mostly  at  Hong-Kong, 
which  is  our  China  headquarters.  It  is  said  that 
more  tonnage  of  shipping — including,  of  course, 
all  Chinese  junks  and  other  craft — passes  through 
Hong-Kong  harbour  in  a  year  than  through  any 
other  port  in  the  world.  The  hospitality  and 
agreeable  society  of  Sir  Henry  Blake,  our  able 
Governor  here,  and  of  Lady  Blake,  added  to  that 
of  other  friends  at  Hong-Kong,  made  it  a  sort  of 
home  for  our  squadron. 

The  importance  of  Hong-Kong  to  our  squadron 
and  our  trade  can  hardly  be  overrated.  It  is 
fortified  of  course,  but  neither  in  its  defences  nor 
its  garrison  could  it  pretend  to  stand  a  siege. 
This  might  be  said  of  many  of  our  possessions  ; 
the  reply  I  suppose  being,  that  we  hope  to  com- 
mand the  sea — a  hope  not  so  easy  of  fulfilment 
now  as  it  was  before  those  modern  navies,  not 
requiring  my  mention,  arose. 

326 


MANILA  AND   FORMOSA 

I  went  to  Manila  to  visit  Admiral  Dewey  of  the 
United  States  Navy  in  his  new  conquest,  and  to 
see  what  was  going  on.  I  had  known  him  several 
years  before,  also  since,  and  class  him  as  a  real 
friend.  As  regards  his  Manila  work,  he  risked 
imcertainty,  and  did  all  that  could  be  done  quite 
well.  That  he  had  not  a  hard  fight  is  no  part 
of  the  question. 

I  found  them  expecting  civil  war  in  the  island, 
and  on  inquiry  learnt  that  I  could  by  going 
several  miles  into  the  country  have  an  interview 
with  Aquinaldo.  Perhaps  I  was  anxious  to  see 
him,  but  I  intended  to  show  him  the  absurdity  of 
his  hoping  to  get  the  better  of  a  contest  with  the 
United  vStates. 

I  found  him  in  no  way  impressive,  in  build 
medium  height,  slight,  and  rather  like  a  Japanese. 
He  spoke  little,  perhaps  because  his  Spanish  was 
only  passable,  and  the  island  patois  his  usual 
tongue  ;  our  interview  was  most  friendly,  but  did 
no  good. 

I  cannot  praise  what  I  heard  of  the  Spanish 
rule  and  conduct  generally  in  these  islands,  but 
details  are  best  omitted.  The  United  States 
have  in  the  Philippine  Islands  a  task  which 
requires  the  British  special  ability  to  carry  out. 

In  March  1899  I  visited  Formosa  ;  it  is  not 
well  off  for  harbours.  The  east  coast  is  precipi- 
tous, and  the  west  the  more  approachable.  The 
Japanese  were  getting  the  better  of  the  mountain 
tribes,  whose  only  weakness  was  a  wish  to  acquire 
as  many  human  heads  as  possible.  They  had 
souls  too  lofty  only  to  care  for  money. 

327 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

In  the  autumn  I  went  to  Corea,  riding  up 
from  Chemulpo  to  Seoul,  the  capital,  twenty-five 
miles  of  dreary  road.  Our  Resident  sent  down 
for  me  a  horse  considered  worthy  of  my  exalted 
position ;  it  took  two  men  to  hold  him  while  I 
mounted,  and  so  impressed  was  he  with  the  event, 
that  as  soon  as  I  was  on  his  back  he  immediately 
reared  up  and  threw  himself  backwards  prostrate 
on  the  road — a  demonstration  I  could  easily  have 
dispensed  with.  However  no  harm  was  done,  and 
eventually  he  carried  me  up  to  the  capital  of  the 
*  Hermit  Kingdom.' 

It  is  curious  to  reflect  that  thirty  years  ago 
Corea  was  as  little  known  as  Thibet  was  then.  I 
never  saw  a  race  so  devoid  of  energy,  either  mental 
or  physical,  as  the  Coreans  are.  My  journal  shows 
me  that  I  then  noted  Japan's  influence  as  pre- 
dominant ;  her  intentions  were  no  doubt  fixed 
before  that  date. 

I  had  an  interview  with  the  Emperor  of  Corea, 
during  which  Captain  A.  Smith  Dorrien  made 
an  excellent  sketch  of  his  Majesty  which  appeared 
in  Vanity  Fair  of  19th  October  1899.  The 
Emperor  I  believe  has  never  got  over  the  shock 
he  experienced  in  1895,  when  some  Japanese  broke 
into  the  Palace  and  murdered  his  Queen.  He 
then  took  refuge  for  a  year  in  the  Russian  Legation. 

Corea  has  great  possibilities,  and  no  wonder  the 
Japanese  wanted  it.  Besides  its  inland  value,  its 
good  harbours  so  near  Japan,  especially  Masampo, 
must  attract  a  rising  naval  power. 


328 


CHAPTER  XXVIIl 

CHINA  COMMAND   (continued) 

H.M.S.  Bonaventure  grounding — Vladivostok — Russian  Tartary 
— Convict  Prison — Japan — The  Yang-tse  Rapids. 

That  autumn  (1899)  I  took  the  squadron  to 
Russian  Tartary.  On  entering  Kornilof  Bay  we 
nearly  had  a  disaster.  Our  previous  squadrons 
had  several  times  been  there,  and  the  charts 
were  thought  good. 

We  were  in  single  column  line  ahead,  when 
I  ordered  the  Bonaventure  to  quit  the  line  and 
take  up  a  berth  arranged  previously  for  some 
intended  manoeuvres.  To  do  this  she  came  up 
on  my  starboard  beam,  about  two  cables  off.  I 
was  looking  at  her,  when  I  saw  her  bow  rise  into 
the  air  a  few  feet,  and  the  ship  stop.  Of  course 
I  knew  she  was  on  a  rock.  We  at  once  anchored, 
and  set  to  work  to  lighten  the  Bonaventure  and 
get  her  off.  In  about  three  days,  with  very  hard 
work  and  two  vessels  towing  her  astern  at  full 
speed,  we  got  her  off,  and  she  was  saved. 

These  accidents,  however,  have  their  bright 
side,  as  they  do  not  only  exactly  call  forth,  but 
they  show,  the  immense  zeal  in  our  service,  among 
both  the  officers  and  the  men.     No  excitement 

329 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

of  action  with  an  enemy,  no  hope  of  promotion 
or  distinction  for  war  service,  no  prospect  of 
prize  money,  or  other  reward  exists ;  but  the 
strongest  emulation  is  there  to  save  a  ship  of 
their  squadron,  and  to  assist  her  unfortunate 
crew.  It  is  this  sort  of  thing  that,  even  in  time 
of  peace,  shows  that  the  right  spirit  still  exists 
in  our  Navy. 

We  were  very  fortunate  in  two  things  :  first, 
that  the  sea  kept  fairly  smooth  ;  secondly,  that 
she  was  not  a  very  large  ship,  and  was  sheathed 
with  w^ood,  which  both  helped  to  protect  her 
and  facilitated  patching  her  up.  It  might  have 
been  one  of  my  battleships  that  grounded,  and 
if  so,  from  my  experience  of  the  Howe,  I  consider 
she  would  have  been  lost. 

I  finished  the  matter  by  a  court  martial, 
which  showed  that  the  only  thing  to  blame  was 
the  rock  for  being  there  ;  unless  indeed  it  were 
the  fault  of  those  who  surveyed  the  harbour, 
and  had  not  discovered  the  above  offender. 

I  went  to  Vladivostok,  where  the  Russians 
received  us  with  that  friendly,  half  informal  and 
warm-hearted  hospitality  they  always  show, 
in  my  experience.  Admiral  Dubasoff,  afterwards 
Governor  of  Moscow  in  the  troublous  times,  was 
the   Commander-in-Chief. 

Vladivostok,  which  means  '  Dominion  of  the 
East,'  is  a  splendid  harbour,  its  almost  only 
drawback  being  that  it  is  frozen  over  in  winter. 

They  showed  me  the  ice  breaker  with  which 
they  keep  the  passage  pretty  clear  in  \\dnter  ; 
it  was  built  at  Copenhagen,  and  is  about  200  feet 

330 


VLADIVOSTOK 

long  ;  it  has  a  very  great  shear,  in  shape  like  a 
crescent  moon  of  seven  days  old  on  its  back  ;  it 
is  driven  ahead  by  a  screw  in  the  stern  ;  the  bow 
rides  up  on  any  ice  it  meets,  and  a  small  screw 
forward  is  then  turned  astern  to  suck  the  water 
from  under  the  ice,  and  the  weight  of  the  forepart 
of  the  vessel,  then  helped  if  required  by  filling  a 
water  chamber  in  the  bows,  is  said  to  be  able 
to  break  through  thirty-three  inches  of  ice  for 
a  distance  of  a  mile  in  an  hour. 

It  interested  me  very  much  to  consider  how 
Vladivostok  should  be  attacked  from  the  sea,  and 
I  could  not  help  thinking  I  saw  a  means.  Plans, 
however,  are  easy,  and  practice  is  another  thing. 
No  doubt  the  Muscovite  would  show  his  tenacity 
of  possession,  as  well  here  as  at  Sevastopol  and 
Port  Arthur. 

The  Russian  regulation  limiting  the  number  of 
men-of-war  that  may  be  in  one  of  their  ports  at 
the  same  time  makes  visiting  a  series  of  them 
rather  difficult  with  a  large  squadron.  I  believe 
it  originated  from  the  entry  in  a  thick  fog  of  our 
China  Squadron  to  Vladivostok  under  the  com- 
mand of  Admiral  Sir  V H ,  a  fine  piece 

of  pilotage,  and  worthy  of  our  Navy. 

Talking  of  animals,  I  was  told  in  conversa- 
tion that  wolves  and  dogs  breed  together  at 
times,  and  the  offspring  are  not  '  mules,'  but 
continue  to  do  so  ;  the  first  cross  is  said  to  be 
fully  as  savage  as  a  wolf,  but  further  on  the}^ 
tone  down.  The  Russians  also  said  that  wild 
horses,  to  protect  themselves  from  the  wolves, 
form  a  circle  of  the  mares  with  their  heads  inwards 

33^ 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

towards  the  foals,  and  their  heels  outwards,  while 
the  stallions  patrol  round  outside  them. 

I  gradually  worked  North  as  far  as  Castries 
Bay,  but  we  were  not  allowed  to  enter  the  Amur 
River. 

Our  chief  sporting  amusement  was  to  fish — 
sometimes  the  ships'  companies  with  the  seine  net 
— often  trolling  from  boats,  sometimes  with  a  fly 
for  salmon.     Fish  are  abundant  in  some  places. 

To  fish  I  went  a  few  miles  through  a  forest, 
and  found  what  I  had  heard,  viz.  that  the  flies 
and  midges  are  almost  maddening  ;  you  can  hardly 
rest  for  them,  and  cases  have  occurred  of  their 
bites  causing  the  face  to  swell  so  as  nearly  to 
obscure  the  sight. 

I  went  to  Saghalien  Island,  as  I  was  anxious 
to  visit  the  great  convict  prison  there,  at  Alexand- 
rovski  ;  they  showed  me,  I  think,  everything 
there.  The  island  is  a  little  larger  than  Scotland. 
There  was  a  strong  garrison  of  troops  ;  the  soldiers 
are  kept  here  five  years,  and  I  was  greatly  struck 
with  their  fine  phj^sique.  Several  men  raised  a 
weight  of  eighty  pounds  with  one  hand  over  the 
head,  and  some  tossed  it  over  and  caught  it  with 
the  other  hand. 

The  prison  contained  about  1300  convicts,  a 
great  number  being  murderers.  They  fell  a 
large  number  in,  and  let  me  walk  along  the  ranks 
and  inspect  them.  They  looked  well  fed  and 
healthy;  I  also  saw  and  tasted  their  food.  A 
very  few  spoke  English,  and  were  allowed  to 
speak  to  me.  They  have  not  solitary  cells,  but 
a    good    many    are    lodged    in    one    room.     For 

332 


SAGHALIEN   ISLAND 

severe  insubordination  in  the  prison,  or  attacks 
on  warders,  the  knout  is  administered.  It  is  a 
fearful  scourge,  and  only  a  few  blows  with  it 
can  be  made  to  kill.  But  for  lesser  offences 
being  chained  to  a  wheelbarrow  is  the  punish- 
ment. I  saw  some  men  so  situated;  one  they 
said  had  been  so  for  three  years,  but  he  looked 
pretty  jolly  on  it  ;  the  chains  allow  them  to 
lie  down.  I  would  much  rather  be  chained  to  a 
wheelbarrow  than  to  a  good  many  men  I  know  of. 
Some  of  my  readers  will  remember  the  remark  of 
the  Scotch  lady  when  she  heard  her  son  was 
fastened  in  a  chain  gang  :  *  I  pity  the  man  who 
is  chained  to  our  Sandy  !  ' 

But  as  regards  Saghalien  and  its  prison  life  : 
according  to  the  convict's  sentence  and  behaviour, 
it  depends  on  when  he  shall  be  let  out  of  prison, 
and  be  given  land  to  live  on  and  cultivate,  and 
he  may  have  a  wife,  and  the  comforts — or  other- 
wise— of  domestic  life.  But  he  may  not  return 
to  Russia.  However,  in  view  of  the  interesting 
works  by  Mr.  de  Windtz,  I  should  apologise  for 
even  the  above  digression. 

Russian  Tartary  along  the  sea  coast  consists 
mostly  of  land  densely  covered  with  forest  ;  the 
climate  is  no  doubt  very  severe  in  winter,  but  it 
is  healthy.  I  visited  '  Pallas  Bay,'  so  called 
because  in  1855  the  Russians  there  burnt  their 
frigate  of  that  name  to  prevent  her  falling  into 
our  hands. 

We  next  went  to  Yezo  Island  and  spent  some 
time  in  Hakodate  harbour  ;  I  happened  to  be 
there    on    the   day   when    England's   agreement, 

333 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

that  in  future  the  Japanese  might  try  the  offenders 
of  our  nation  if  hving  in  Japan,  became  vahd. 

It  seemed  a  parody  on  this  (as  a  rather  un- 
civihsed  custom)  that  the  same  day  boatloads  of 
natives,  many  evidently  ladies,  came  off  to  see 
our  ships,  the  boats  being  rowed  by  men  per- 
fectly naked ;  and  no  one  thought  more  of  it 
than  if  they  all  were  negroes  in  tropical  Africa, 
not  so  much  perhaps.  After  all  custom  seems 
everything. 

The  Japanese  war  with  Russia  was  no  sudden 
and  unexpected  accident  ;  looking  back  to  my 
journal  of  1899,  I  there  see  I  was  often  told  of 
the  hostile  feeling  existing,  and  that  1903  was 
the  date  of  preparation  looked  forward  to,  when 
great  events  might  be  expected. 

That  autumn,  by  kind  invitation  of  Prince 
Henry  of  Prussia,  Admiral  commanding  the 
German  Squadron  out  here,  I  visited  him  at 
Kia-chow  Bay,  the  real  name  of  the  German 
settlement  being  Tsingtau.  We  rode  about  the 
country  near,  and  I  was  struck  with  the  very 
practical  way  everything  was  planned  out  and 
pushed  forward.  The  commercial  prosperity  of 
the  port  must,  I  think,  depend  on  the  railway 
communication  with  the  interior. 

In  October  I  found  time  to  go  up  the  Yang-tse 
as  far  as  Kweichow.  At  Hankow  one  took  the 
local  steamer  to  Ichang,  and  then  embaiked  in 
H.M.S.  Woodcock  (Lieutenant  and  Commander 
Hugh  Watson).  She  was  one  of  a  class  sent  out 
from  England  in  boxes,  and  put  together  at 
Shanghai.     She  had  a  flat  bottom,  and  only  drew 

334 


YANG-TSE   RIVER 

about  eighteen  inches.  She  could  steam  about 
twelve  knots,  and  in  passing  up  the  rapids  at  that 
speed  she  sometimes  was  stationary,  which  shows 
what  the  current  was.  It  was  quite  exciting 
work,  and  even  more  so  coming  down.  Rocks 
abound,  and  to  strike  one,  of  course,  means  to 
be  sunk. 

The  Chinese  trade  is  done  by  light  junks 
which  are  tracked  up  the  river  to  Chung-king. 
For  this  work  some  300,000  men  are  employed. 
At  Ichang  there  is  a  large  establishment  called 
the  Tracker's  Guild-house,  where  these  men  lodge 
while  awaiting  a  job.  Having  got  to  Chung- 
king, they  work  their  way  back  to  Ichang, 
partly  in  the  returning  junks,  and  partly  carry- 
ing loads  by  land.  Junks  are  often  lost  at  the 
rapids,  and  many  men  drowned.  We  saw  a 
good  many  wrecks  scattered  about. 

The  scenery  of  the  Yang-tse  in  the  gorges  is 
magnificent ;  I  remember  one  gorge,  the  Ninkau, 
with  a  perpendicular  cliff  700  feet  high,  the 
width  of  the  river  there  being  about  280  yards. 
In  such  a  place  the  river  rises  70  feet  from  low 
to  high  water. 


335 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

CHINA  COMMAND    (continued) 
H.R.H.  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia — Siam — Borneo. 

November  1899  saw  me  again  at  Hong-Kong, 
where  I  found  H.R.H.  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia  with 
most  of  his  squadron.  We  exchanged  more  than 
civihties — very  friendly  hospitahties ;  and  as 
he  was  soon  to  be  leheved  in  his  command,  I 
took  leave  of  him,  but  with  real  regret,  and  the 
feeling  that  he  had  a  great  regard  for  England, 
and  a  true  sailorlike  warmth  of  heart. 

The  China  Station  is  so  large  that  no  Admiral 
can  in  three  years  visit  it  all,  or  even  its  important 
parts ;  but  I  was  anxious  to  see  what  I  could  of 
the  southern  parts,  and  left  in  December  for 
Siam. 

We  anchored  outside  the  Menam  River,  on 
which  is  the  capital  Bangkok,  where  I  proceeded 
in  a  gunboat.  The  (now  late)  King,  Chulalon- 
korn,  lodged  me  in  the  house  of  Admiral  de 
Richelieu,  a  Dane,  who  was  the  head  of  the 
Siamese  Navy— a  not  very  onerous  task ;  but 
its  chief  was  a  most  agreeable  host. 

The  King  struck  me  as  unusually  energetic 
336 


SIAM 

and  intelligent.  In  fact,  I  described  him  as  a 
little  German  Emperor.  He  also  spoke  English 
quite  well.  He  gave  a  large  banquet  in  the 
Palace,  at  which  the  servants  who  waited  were 
said  to  be  gentlemen. 

Siam  is  a  very  hot  place;  but  to  cool  the 
dining-room,  instead  of  punkahs,  men  stood  behind 
the  guests  waving  immense  ornamental  fans. 

I  never  was  at  a  place  so  infested  with  insects 
of  all  kinds  as  Bangkok  is.  We  had  a  banquet  on 
board  the  King's  yacht,  at  w^hich  small  Hying 
things  innumerable  kept  descending,  so  that  all 
the  wine-glasses  were  covered  over,  and  the 
covers  only  lifted  while  you  drank.  In  your 
bedroom  you  had  the  cheerful  company  of  lizards 
of  kinds,  besides  things  aerial ;  but  I  believe  they 
were  nearty  all  quite  harmless. 

Siam  is,  of  course,  the  land  of  elephants.  In 
the  King's  stables  at  least  one  white  one — so 
called,  really  grey,  or  dirty  white;  they  are 
albinos,  I  believe — is  kept  as  a  kind  of  fetish. 
I  rode  on  an  elephant  and  found  its  paces,  when 
going  fast,  rough  beyond  expectation.  They  ar^^ 
said  often  to  live  a  hundred  years  in  captivity, 
and  it  is  thought  much  longer  when  wild. 

The  Siamese  may  be  shortly  described  as 
rather  darker  than  the  Japanese,  better  looking 
as  regards  the  men  ;  but  the  women  on  the 
whole  rather  less  attractive,  though  by  no  means 
without  charm.  Both  sexes  wear  their  hair 
short ;  the  women  would  look  nicer  if  they  did 
not  chew  betel  nut  ! 

From  Siam  I  went  to  Singapore .  The  importance 

337 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

of  it  to  us  is  undoubted,  and  efforts  have  been 
made  to  fortify  it ;  but  it  is  a  very  difficult  place 
to  defend. 

I  visited  the  prison,  which  I  had  done  before 
in  1877 ;  it  was  much  the  same,  only  increased 
in  size.  The  Chinese  form  the  greater  part  of 
the  gaol  birds.  I  was  told  that  men  were  put  in 
prison  here  for  running  off  with  other  men's 
wives.     How  would  that  answer  in  England  ? 

We  got  at  Singapore  a  small  black  bear,  which 
became  the  devoted  friend  of  my  dog  *  Jim,'  a 
pointer.  They  used  to  play  together  till  tired, 
and  then  lie  down  and  sleep  in  company.  Alas  ! 
both  came  to  untimely  ends  by  falls  in  the  ship 
in  1900. 

I  was  anxious  to  see  Borneo,  and  went  first  to 
Sarawak,  where  I  was  very  kindly  entertained 
by  the  Rajah,  Sir  Charles  Brooke,  at  his  house, 
situated  near  Kuching,  the  capital.  I  believe  his 
kingdom  is  kept  in  very  good  order,  to  do  which 
he  had  both  a  regiment  and  a  prison. 

This  is,  of  course,  the  land  of  orang-outangs. 
I  saw  none  alive  but  several  stuffed ;  they  are 
difficult  to  export,  being  very  sensitive  to  change 
of  climate.  While  here  I  saw  a  crocodile's  egg 
opened,  and  a  young  one  eleven  inches  long  came 
out  and  ran  about  merril}^ 

I  visited  the  Sultan  of  Brunnei,  an  old  man, 
very  courteous,  and  almost  dignified.  He  had 
several  curious  old  brass  cannon,  about  6-  and 
g-pounders,  but  highly  ornamented  with  figures 
of  men  and  animals. 

Brunnei  lies  between  Sarawak  and  British 
338 


BORNEO 

North  Borneo,  which  last  place  we  acquired  in 
1880  from  the  above  Sultan.  It  has  an  area  of 
30,000  square  miles,  almost  the  same  size  as 
Scotland,  and  should  become  very  valuable.  Its 
harbour,  at  the  Island  of  Labuan,  is  an  important 
position,  and  especially  valuable  on  account  of  the 
coal  found  there  ;  and,  being  about  midway  up 
the  China  Sea  and  opposite  Cochin  China,  it  might 
in  a  war  be  of  great  strategic  value. 

I  stayed  in  the  Government  House  at  Labuan, 
with  our  Resident,  Mr.  Keyser.  It  is  said  to  be 
haunted  by  the  ghost  of  a  pirate  who  became  a 
Roman  Catholic  priest,  but  again  reverted  to  his 
former  indiscretions.  I  tried  at  midnight  to  see 
him  by  visiting  his  haunts,  but  with  my  usual 
bad  luck  in  such  things,  I  failed. 

I  went  to  Sandakhan,  which  is  the  capital  of 
British  North  Borneo,  and  was  informed  here 
that  orang-outangs^or  mias — are  very  human 
if  kindly  treated,  and  become  not  at  all  savage ; 
that  they  live  sometimes  for  forty  years ;  but  I 
was  told  the  story  of  one  wlio  proved  his  actual 
civilisation  by  drinking  himself  to  death. 

I  was  given  what  is  extremely  rare,  viz.  a 
'  Buntat  Klapa,'  which  is  a  white  stone  as  hard  as 
marble ;  they  are  found  inside  cocoanuts,  but  you 
would  probably  not  find  more  than  one  in  10,000 
nuts.  Pearls,  emeralds,  &c.,  are  quite  common  in 
comparison,  as  regards  facility  of  acquisition — only 
a  little  money  is  wanted  for  them  ;  but  you  might 
search  all  London  and  not  get  a  Buntat  Klapa,  no 
matter  what  sum  3/ou  offered. 

I  returned  to  Hong-Kong  via  Manila,  where  I 
339  ^  2 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

found  our  friends  the  Americans  busy  trying  to 
pacify  the  wily  Phihppino. 

While  at  Hong-Kong  I  made  a  trip  up  the 
west  river — or  Si  Kiang — in  our  river  gunboat  the 
Sandpiper  (Lieutenant  and  Commander  the  Hon. 
Arthur  Forbes  Semphill).  This  river  runs  into 
the  Canton  River  ;  it  was  infested  with  pirates, 
and  our  gunboats  have  been  very  useful  in  sup- 
pressing them. 

In  the  spring  as  usual  I  went  North,  visiting 
many  places,  and  in  May  found  myself  at  Wei- 
hai-wei,  and  went  to  visit  our  Minister  at  Pekin. 
I  stayed  there  till  i8th  May,  and  then  returned  to 
Wei-hai-wei ;  no  one  having  the  slightest  sus- 
picion of  what  was  very  soon  to  happen  in  North 
China. 

China  indeed  is  a  land  of  surprises,  and  partly 
because  there  is  no  semblance  of  a  universal 
patriotism.  The  north  and  the  south  have  no 
more  community  of  national  feeling  than  has 
Germany  with  Spain.  Railways,  telegraphs,  and 
Western  education  may  gradually  bring  about  the 
existence  of  a  united  and  homogeneous  China, 
and  if  so  then  she  may  become  a  powerful  and 
armed  nation.  But  I  think  the  danger  of  the 
*  Yellow  peril '  is  still  very  far  off. 


340 


CHAPTER  XXX 

CHINA  COMMAND   (continued) 

The  Boxer  Rising — Our  Preparations — Our  Expedition  starts — 
Tiensin — Lang-fang — Desert  Trains — Taku  Forts — Peitsang 
— Hsiku  Arsenal. 

This  memoir  of  mine  is  in  no  way  a  histor^^  and 
therefore  as  regards  the  Boxer  Rising  of  1900  I 
shall  only  attempt  to  say  what  came  under  my 
personal  notice,  with  such  other  short  remarks  as 
seem  necessary  for  coherency.  The  actual  account 
of  the  affair  has  been  better  dealt  with  as  history 
elsewhere,  in  various  books. 

I  will  only  here  remark  that  the  Taiping 
rebellion  was  anti-dynastic,  and  the  Boxer  rising 
was  anti-foreign,  i.e.  intended  to  turn  the  Western 
nations  out  of  China.  The  Boxers  were  called 
I-ho-chiian,  meaning,  '  the  patriotic  harmony 
fists.'  The  word  '  Taiping  '  can,  I  believe,  be 
translated  as  *  great  tranquillity.'  If  so,  and  they 
named  themselves,  perhaps  they  had  read  in 
Tacitus'  '  Agricola,'  '  Solitudinem  faciunt  pacem 
appellant ' — applicable  possibly  to  their  awful 
destruction  of  human  life. 

My  first  notice  of  anything  unusual  was  on  the 

341 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

28th  May  at  Wei-hai-wci,  when  I  got  a  telegram 
from  Sir  Claude  Macdonald  at  Pekin,  to  say  the 
Boxers  were  troublesome  and  a  guard  was  wanted. 
Some  Marines  were  at  once  sent  in  compliance. 

On  31st  May  more  serious  news  arrived,  so  I 
at  once  proceeded  with  some  ships  to  the  anchorage 
off  the  Taku  Bar,  where  we  were  joined  by  other 
vessels  of  various  nationalities. 

Let  me  here  remark  as  follows.  The  general 
history  of  our  dealings  with  China  has  been  that 
we  have  forced  ourselves  undesired  upon  them  and 
into  their  country.  I  believe  we  are  too  apt  to 
forget  this,  and  not  to  make  those  allowances  in 
consequence,  that  we  certainly  should  make  for 
our  own  behaviour  in  case  any  foreign  nation 
tried  to  intrude  themselves  by  force  on  us.  But 
Crabbe's  w'ell-known  lines  beginning — 

How  is  it  men,  when  they  in  judgtnent  sit 
On  the  same  faults  now  censure  now  acquit 

apply  to  nations  as  much  as  to  men.  I  might 
easily  enlarge  on  this  subject  by  dilating  on  the 
religious  question,  on  the  opium  trade,  on  the  war 
of  1840,  and  on  events  both  before  and  after 
that ;  but  that  is  not  my  theme. 

Arrived  off  the  Taku  Bar,  affairs  soon  got 
more  serious,  but  it  was  quite  easy  for  me  to  see 
what  to  do.  Fortunately  for  me  I  was  the  senior 
of  all  the  admirals  on  the  station,  so  it  was  my 
place  to  initiate  proceedings. 

Men-of-war  of  the  following  nations  were 
present — Russian,  French,  German,  and  United 
States  with  admirals  in  command ;    and  Austrian, 

342 


BOXER  RISING 

Italian  and  Japanese  with  captains.  I  at  once 
invited  these  officers  to  consultations  on  board  my 
flagship,  in  order  that  we  might  all  act  in  har- 
mony if  possible.  We  agreed  that,  it'  required,  an 
allied  Naval  Brigade  should  be  landed,  and  advance 
on  Pekin. 

This  brigade,  I  felt,  I  was  the  proper  person 
to  command,  and  I  telegraphed  to  the  Admiralty 
certain  proposals  regarding  it,  for  the  Foreign 
Office  to  consider,  and,  if  approved,  to  act  on.  I 
might  add  that  I  was,  of  course,  anxious  that 
my  own  officers  and  men  should  not  be  under 
foreign  command,  which  my  going  would  avoid. 

However,  time  was  not  given  us  for  any 
repl}^  when  on  9th  June  Captain  Jellicoe,i  my 
Flag-captain  whom  I  had  sent  to  Tiensin 
for  information,  returned  about  11  p.m.  with  a 
message  from  Sir  Claude  Macdonald  to  say  that 
unless  help  was  immediate  it  would  be  too  late. 
This  was,  of  course,  enough  ground  for  me  to 
act  on. 

Our  arrangements  for  landing  if  required  had 
been  made,  so  we  were  ready,  and  at  i  a.m.  on 
the  loth  we  were  off.  I  went  in  the  Fame,  a 
destroyer  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Roger  Keyes,- 
who  managed  very  well,  though  in  a  dark  night 
and  with  a  falling  tide,  to  get  us  to  the  landing 
place  at  Tonghu,  where  we  got  a  train  and  left  for 
Tiensin . 

Of  course  I  had  to  act  without  any  home 
authority,  but  in  such  cases,  whether  success  or 

'  Now  Vicc-Admiral  Sir  John  Jcllicoe,  K.C.V.O.,  C.B. 
*  Now  Captain. 

343 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

failure  attends  you,  England  nearly  always 
approves  an  officer  who  has  evidently  done  his 
best.  I  never  could  understand  why  anyone 
minds  taking  responsibility.  You  have  only  to 
do  what  seems  proper,  and  if  it  turns  out  badly 
it  is  the  fault  of  Nature  for  not  having  made 
you  cleverer. 

I,  of  course,  informed  my  foreign  colleagues 
of  my  start,  and  their  various  contingents  followed 
as  soon  as  possible.  I  may  here  with  pleasure 
truly  remark  that  throughout  the  operations  in 
China  in  1900  I  always  met  with  the  most  kind 
co-operation  and  help  from  all  the  naval  foreign 
officers  I  had  to  deal  with,  with  perhaps  one 
exception,  which  did  no  harm,  and  is  best  not 
described.  Also  that  the  foreign  officers  under 
my  command  invariably  acted  in  perfect  harmony 
with  me. 

This  may  be  accounted  for  as  follows  :  First,  I 
was  the  senior  naval  officer  on  the  station,  and 
a  head  was  necessary  ;  secondly,  we  had  all  one 
common  object  ;  thirdly,  that  we  were  all  sailors, 
among  whom  a  certain  sort  of  freemasonry,  or 
brotherhood,  always  exists. 

At  Tiensin  we  had  some  trouble  in  getting 
trains  to  go  on  towards  Pekin,  but  no  excuses 
were  listened  to,  and  we  were  prepared  to  use 
force  if  necessary  to  get  them.  In  a  couple  of 
hours  we  were  off  on  the  Pekin  line. 

At  Yang-tsun,  about  fifteen  miles  above 
Tiensin,  is  the  railwa}^  bridge  over  the  Peiho 
River ;  here  we  found  General  Nieh's  troops,  some 
4000   strong,   but   we   exchanged  friendly  greet- 

344 


FIRST  ENCOUNTER  WITH  BOXERS 

ings,  crossed  the  river,  and  went  on  till  that 
afternoon,  when  we  had  to  stop  and  repair  the 
line  which  the  Boxers  had  torn  up. 

Next  day  we  were  joined  by  other  trains, 
making  our  force  up  to  about  1866  all  told  of 
eight  nationalities,  which  I  give  in  the  order  of 
their  numbers  :  British,  915  (double  any  other), 
German  next,  then  Russian,  French,  United 
States,  Japanese,  Italian,  and  Austrian.  My 
own  staff  was:  Flag-captain,  Captain  J.  R. 
Jellicoe  ;  Secretary,  F.  C.  Alton ;  Flag-lieutenant, 
F.  A.  Powlett ;  and  Lieutenant  G.  M.  K.  Fair, 
R.N.,  as  Intelligence  Officer,  and  Midshipman 
E.  O.  B.  S.  Osborne  as  A.D.C. 

At  Tiensin  my  staff  was  joined  by  Captain 
Clive  Bigham  (late  Grenadier  Guards),  and  by 
Mr.  C.  W.  Campbell,  of  the  Chinese  Service  ;  the 
latter  was  most  useful  as  a  Chinese  interpreter, 
and  the  former  from  a  knowledge  of  more  than 
one  foreign  tongue. 

From  now  onwards  till  further  progress  became 
impossible  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  railway, 
we  were  constantly  repairing  torn-up  rails  and 
broken  bridges  ;  but  a  difficulty  not  less  than 
these  was  to  get  water  for  the  engines,  the 
Boxers  having  destroyed  the  station  water 
supplies. 

Our  first  encounter  with  the  Boxers  was  on 
nth  June,  just  below  Lang-fang  station,  where 
they  attacked  us,  and  came  on  with  decided 
courage,  losing  some  thirty-five  men  killed.  It 
was  said — I  believe  with  truth — that  these  fanatics 
had  been  persuaded  that  the}^  were  invulnerable, 

345 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

and,  after  some  had  been  killed,  it  was  added  that 
they  would  in  a  few  days  revive. 

Lang-fang  station  was  the  farthest  we  could 
get  the  trains  to,  the  line  above  it  being  very 
badly  destroyed.  It  is  about  forty  miles  above 
Tiensin  and  half-way  to  Pekin. 

A  party  of  Marines  under  Major  J.  R.  Johnstone, 
R.M.L.I.,1  reconnoitred  on  nearly  to  the  next 
station,  Anping,  but  the  Hue  was  too  badly 
damaged  for  us  to  repair  it.  We  were  now  isolated, 
with  no  transport  or  means  to  advance,  and  cut 
off  from  our  base  behind. 

For  this  position  I  make  no  apology,  for  in 
view  of  the  Pekin  message  mentioned  on  p.  343 
an  immediate  dash  to  save  the  Legations  was 
the  only  course  to  pursue.  For  five  days  we 
held  on  to  Lang-fang  station,  unwilling  to 
move  backwards,  and  in  hopes  of  better  pros- 
pects ;  and  desultory  fighting  with  the  Boxers 
went  on. 

On  the  1 6th  it  became  evident  we  could  not 
approach  nearer  to  Pekin,  and  that  therefore 
our  stay  here  was  both  useless  and  impracticable, 
and  that  our  only  course  was  to  return  to  Tiensin 
and  then  act  according  to  circumstances — a  possible 
advance  by  the  river,  in  view  of  the  railway's 
destruction,  being  in  my  mind. 

By  great  exertions  we  were  able  to  repair  the 
line  so  as  to  move  the  trains  back  nearly  to  the 
bridge  across  the  river  at  Yang-tsun,  but  we 
then  found  the  bridge  there  so  damaged  that  it 
was  impossible  to  cross  it.     But  it  was  important 

'  Now  Major-General  and  C.B. 


CAPTURE  OF  THE    TAKU  FORTS 

to  have  got  so  near  to  the  river,  because  we  were 
then  able  to  seize  some  Chinese  junks  and  in 
them  get  transport  for  our  wounded  men,  and 
our  provisions,  our  field-guns,  and  ammunition. 

The  forced  desertion  of  the  trains  was  sad, 
and  we  had  to  leave  much  private  property 
behind  us  ;  in  fact,  to  go  on  with  only  our  arms 
and  what  we  could  carry,  besides  the  junks  for 
the  above  purposes. 

The  Taku  forts  were  taken  on  the  17th,  about 
which  various  opinions  have  been  held.  First, 
as  to  the  propriety  of  taking  the  forts  ;  and, 
secondly,  as  to  the  effect  so  doing  had  on  the 
Chinese  authorities  and  their  subsequent  conduct. 

One  view  (pro)  is  that  as  things  appeared  to  be, 
with  fighting  already  going  on  up  country,  it  was 
a  grave  error  to  leave  such  forts  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy  in  our  rear,  and  to  cut  off  our  inland 
communications  with  the  Fleet  and  the  sea.  The 
other  view  (con)  was  that  we  were  only  at  war 
with  the  Boxers,  a  sort  of  rebels,  but  that  we 
were  friends  with  the  Chinese  Government  and 
authorities  who  held  the  forts,  and  so  that  we 
had  no  business  to  attack  them. 

The  question  was  of  necessity  settled  by  the 
conclave  of  Admirals  off  the  Peiho  in  my  absence, 
so  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  The  Chinese 
said  afterwards  that  had  we  left  the  forts  in 
their  hands  they  would  not  have  countenanced 
the  Boxers  as  they  did.  Of  course  our  attacking 
the  forts,  held  as  they  were  by  the  Government's 
troops,  was  nothing  more  or  less  than  an  act  of 
war  against  China.    All  the  national  representatives 

347 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

in  fact  did  not  consent  to  it,  but  there  was  a 
sufficient  majority. 

My  own  unbiased  opinion  is  that  under  the 
pecuUar  circumstances  we  were  right  to  act  as 
we  did  and  to  take  the  Taku  forts.  It  is  a 
curious  fact  that  my  flag  was  flying  on  that 
occasion  on  board  the  Algerine  (Commander 
R.  H.  Stewart) — a  unique  instance  perhaps  of  an 
Admiral's  flag  flying  in  action,  he  not  being 
present. 

This  was  the  second  occasion  of  the  Admiral's 
flag  of  one  of  my  family  flying  at  the  capture  of 
the  Taku  forts  (see  Chapter  VIII).  I  may  also 
remark  that  I  have  gone  three  times  to  China, 
and  that  each  time  w^e  went  to  war,  and  took 
the  above  forts. 

General  Nieh's  troops  had  now  become  hostile 
to  us.  On  the  i8th  we  abandoned  the  trains, 
and  escorting  the  junks,  started  towards  Tiensin, 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  The  weather  was 
very  hot,  but  it  was  curious  how  few  succumbed 
to  it ;  I  suppose  because  it  was  a  dry  heat.  It 
caused  much  thirst,  to  quench  which  the  very 
uninviting  river  had  often  to  be  resorted  to. 
No  doubt  to  campaign  in  a  moderate  tempera- 
ture is  the  pleasantest  ;  but  if  it  must  be  extreme 
either  way,  by  all  means  give  me  heat  rather 
than  cold,  especially  for  rest  at  night. 

We  could  already  hear  the  firing  of  heavy 
guns  in  the  direction  of  Tiensin,  which  hastened 
our  efforts.  The  distance  by  river  was  about 
thirty  miles,  but  owing  to  the  shallow-  water  the 
junks  often  grounded  and  delayed  us.     We  also 

348 


OPERATIONS   AT  PEITSANG 

came  to  numerous  villages  held  by  Boxers,  who 
caused  much  delay  while  our  guns  were  brought 
into  action,  and  the  places  attacked  and  taken. 

All  this  time  on  our  flank  were  Chinese  troops 
with  light  guns,  from  which  they  frequently 
fired  on  us.  Our  provisions  were  reduced  to 
something  like  half  rations,  but  it  is  astonishing 
how  little  food  you  can  do  with  for  a  short  time. 

On  the  20th  I  see  noted  in  my  journal :  '  Fight- 
ing nearly  all  day,  and  only  made  about  eight 
miles'  progress.*  I  sometimes  noticed  that  on 
attacking  a  place,  the  fire  seemed  to  get  heavier 
when  we  got  close  to,  but  the  bullets  much  fewer  ; 
and  the  explanation  was  that  at  the  last,  if  retreat 
was  decided  on,  the  Chinese  set  light  to  a  large 
quantity  of  crackers  that  made  a  great  noise 
and  emitted  much  smoke. 

On  the  2ist  we  had,  perhaps,  our  hardest  fight, 
at  Peitsang,  a  large  town,  which  after  some 
hours  we  took.  Here  my  Flag-captain  (Jellicoe) 
was  very  seriously  wounded,  after  which  I  re- 
quested Captain  von  Usedom,  of  the  German 
Imperial  Navy,  to  act  as  my  Chief  of  the  Staff ; 
and  authorised  him  if  I  were  killed  to  command 
the  expedition.  His  services  to  me  were  most 
valuable,  and  as  loyal  as  if  he  had  been  in  our 
Navy,  showing  the  unanimity  with  which  our 
mixed  nationalities'   force  acted. 

A  curious  episode  occurred  that  day.  We  had  got 
one  or  two  more  junks  to  hold  the  wounded,  and  I 
sent  some  men  on  board  to  examine  and  prepare 
them  ;  no  sooner  had  they  reached  the  decks  than, 
as  if  in  a  pantomime,  the  closed  hatches  flew  open, 

349 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

and  out  popped  some  women  and  children  and 
leaped  over  the  side  into  the  river,  preferring 
drowning  to  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  '  foreign 
devils.'  Some  of  my  people  jumped  after  them  to 
save  them,  my  Flag-lieutenant  for  one.  Though 
it  was  warm  weather  it  was  not  pleasant  for  those 
who  did  so  to  get  their  only  suit  of  clothes  wet  ; 
no  one  having  two  suits. 

On  another  occasion  we  had  just  taken  a 
village,  when  a  Chinese  woman  threw  herself  into 
a  well  to  escape.  It  was  covered  with  a  large 
stone  slab,  and  the  hole  was  so  small  it  barely 
admitted  a  human  being.  The  Germans  saw  this 
happen,  and  managed  cleverly  to  move  the  stone 
and  fish  the  woman  out  alive  ;  then  coming  to 
ask  me  what  to  do  with  her.  She  was  young  and 
good  looking,  but,  of  course,  dripping  wet  and 
nearly  dead  with  fright  ;  but  she  had  preferred 
death  to  captivity. 

That  night  was  rather  a  trying  one.  We  were 
all  tired  and  hungry.  The  sound  of  firing  towards 
Tiensin  and  occasional  shells  falling  near  us  were 
adverse  to  sleep,  but  mattered  less  as  we  had  not 
time  for  it. 

I  decided  that  as  soon  as  we  could  get  the 
freshly  wounded  ready  in  the  above  junks  we  had 
fortunately  found,  we  must  push  on  in  the  night. 
Of  course  our  position  was  an  anxious  one  ;  it 
appeared  quite  possible  we  might  be  surrounded  and 
a  disaster  occur ;  the  Chinese  never  give  quarter, 
and  any  of  our  officers  or  men  who  fell  into  their 
hands  were  at  once  killed.  It  often  occurred  to 
me  what  a  very  curious  scene  such  an  international 

350 


AN  UNKNOWN  ARSENAL 

holocaust  would  be.  But  I  never  regretted  our 
coming  on  the  expedition,  and  should  not  have 
regretted  it  whatever  occurrea,  as  I  considered  it 
was  the  proper  and  only  thing  to  do.  The  wounded 
men  were  our  chief  anxiety. 

On  the  22nd  we  started  at  1.15  a.m.,  and  before 
daylight  carried  the  first  village  that  resisted  us, 
by  a  charge  of  our  Marines.  About  this  time  a 
junk  with  some  of  our  guns  in  was  sunk,  but 
happily  no  wounded  men  were  in  her. 

About  daylight  to  our  surprise  we  found  our- 
selves abreast  of  a  fortified  position  on  the  right 
(or  opposite)  bank  of  the  river.  Out  of  this  came 
a  few  soldiers  in  uniform.  They  hailed  us  to  ask 
who  we  were,  &:c.,  and  we  answered  '  A  friendly 
force  on  our  way  to  Tiensin.'  I  thought  at 
first  they  would  let  us  pass,  but  instead  of  that 
almost  at  once  a  heavy  volley  of  small  arms 
was  opened  on  us  from  their  ramparts,  showing 
that  they  had  been  on  the  look  out  and  known  of 
our  approach. 

I  should  here  say  that  the  reason  we  were 
surprised  was  that  the  existence  of  Hsiku  arsenal, 
which  this  proved  to  be,  was  before  unknown  to  us  ; 
and  further  I  may  add  that  though,  of  course, 
not  so  intended  by  the  Chinese,  their  firing  on  us 
probably  saved  our  combined  force,  because  it  led 
to  our  taking  the  arsenal,  and  sheltering  in  it, 
which  without  this  hostile  act  on  their  part  I  could 
not  have  done  ;  and  had  we  continued  on  towards 
Tiensin  with  our  junks  of  wounded,  through 
the  narrow  and  intricate  watercourse  just  above 
Tiensin,  and  with  forts  on  both  sides  of    it,   we 

351 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

should  almost  certainly  have  met  with  a  complete 
disaster. 

It  was  at  onc3  evident  we  must  take  the 
arsenal.  To  do  this  I  sent  our  Marines  under 
Major  Johnstone,  R.M.L.I.,  to  cross  the  river 
higher  up  and  attack  Hsiku  at  its  north-east  side, 
while  the  Germans  did  so  at  the  south-west  part, 
and  so  it  was  taken.  We  found  it  a  complete 
enclosed  work,  rectangular  in  shape,  and  about 
700  yards  long  on  the  river  side,  and  its  area  some 
30  to  40  acres.  Inside  were  several  edifices,  a 
temple,  barracks  and  other  buildings,  but  most 
important  of  all  a  large  stone  arsenal  containing 
a  great  quantity  of  field-guns,  rifles,  ammunition 
for  the  above,  and  other  warlike  stores. 

Some  of  us  found  arms  and  ammunition  like 
our  own  here.  In  fact  it  was  an  arsenal  of  great 
importance.  There  was  also  a  very  large  store 
of  rice.  I  decided  at  once  to  rest  here  at  least 
for  a  day,  everyone  being  nearly  worn  out  for 
want  of  sleep  and  food. 

We  were  almost  immediately  attacked  by 
General  Nieh's  troops  in  great  force,  who  tried  to 
recapture  the  place,  but  were  repulsed.  In  this 
affair  the  Commander  of  the  German  cruiser 
Hertha,  a  very  fine  officer,  was  killed. 

Early  next  morning  we  were  again  attacked  by 
a  large  force,  some  of  w'hom  had  actually  got  over 
the  walls  in  the  darkness.  Again  we  repulsed  them, 
but  with  loss  to  ourselves — among  others  Captain 
Beyts,  R.M.A.,  of  the  Centiirion,  being  killed. 

It  was  now  plain  that  the  forces  betw^een  us 
and  Tiensin  made  it  impossible  to  make  our  way 

352 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  THE  SETTLEMENT 

there ;  especially  with  our  large  number  of  wounded. 
Our  force  was  distributed  as  seemed  best,  the 
French  under  Capitaine  de  Vaisseau  Marolles 
occupying  the  arsenal  itself  at  the  south-east  part 
of  the  enclosure.  The  constant  firing  in  that 
direction  was,  however,  a  sort  of  comfort,  as 
showing  that  the  European  settlements  still  held 
out,  and  our  immediate  objects  were  to  fortify  our 
position  and  communicate  with  our  friends  in  the 
settlement. 

This  last  was  accomplished  on  the  24th  by 
Captain  Bigham's  Chinese  servant,  who  took  a 
cypher  message  from  me,  which,  however,  being 
searched,  he  had  to  eat ;  but  he  got  to  the  Consulate 
and  told  where  we  were. 

On  24th  we  had  a  very  bad  dust  storm ;  you 
could  only  bear  to  look  to  leeward,  and  then  could 
see  but  a  few  yards,  and  had  we  been  attacked 
from  windward,  the  enemy  would  have  had  a 
very  great  advantage. 

As  soon  as  our  position  was  known  in  the  Tien- 
sin  settlement,  a  force  to  relieve  us  and  help  us 
to  reach  that  place  was  arranged.  It  consisted 
mostly  of  Russian  troops,  lately  arrived  from 
Port  Arthur,  and  commanded  by  Colonel 
Sherinsky,  with  some  of  our  own  and  other 
nationalities.  Early  on  the  25th  they  appeared 
in  sight,  and  soon  closed  us  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river. 

The  Colonel  said  he  was  told  to  return  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  I  agreed  to  start  early  next 
morning  ;  but  would  not  move  that  day  as  it 
took  long  to  prepare  the  wounded  and  get  them 

353  *A 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

across  the  river  ;  and  also  because  I  must  have 
the  contents  of  this  important  arsenal  destroyed, 
to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  enemy's  hands. 

Our  relief  was  especially  welcome  because, 
though  we  could  defend  ourselves  and  had  plenty 
of  ammunition,  food  was  very  scarce,  and  hunger 
was  becoming  a  very  serious  question. 

During  the  night  we  crossed  the  river  and  at 
3  A.M.  started  on  a  circuitous  route  to  the  settle- 
ment, which  we  reached  in  about  six  hours. 

The  arsenal  had  been  prepared  for  destruction 
by  the  French,  and  I  entrusted  to  Lieutenant 
E.  G.  Lowther  Crofton,  R.N.,  of  the  Centurion, 
the  dut}^  of  actually  firing  it.  The  explosions  and 
conflagration  lasted  more  than  one  day,  and  the 
loss  to  the  Chinese  was  very^great. 


554 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

CHINA   COMJVIAND   (continued) 

Defence    of    the  Tiensin  Settlements — Capture  of    the  Chinese 
Arsenals — General  Fukusima. 

I  FOUND  the  European  settlements  in  a  complete 
state  of  siege  ;  they  are  all  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Peiho,  and  situated  just  below  the  Chinese 
walled  city  of  Tiensin  ;  from  which  a  rather 
desultory  fire  both  from  guns  and  small-arms  was 
constantly  kept  up.  No  place  was  safe ;  many 
houses  were  pierced  both  by  shell  and  rifle  bullets, 
and  it  was  never  known  from  what  quarter  an 
attack  might  come. 

Since  we  left,  sixteen  days  before,  much  fighting 
had  taken  place  ;  many  troops  had  arrived,  the 
most  numerous  being  the  Russians  under  General 
Stosser(afterwards  the  defender  of  Port  Arthur), 
and  of  ours  the  2nd  Battalion  of  the  23rd  Welsh 
Fusiliers,  from  Hong-Kong,  under  Colonel  the  Hon. 
Reginald  Bertie, ^  and  the  ist  Chinese  Regiment 
from  Wei-hai-wei — both  under  the  command  of 
Brigadier-General  Dorward  - ;  also  some  Japanese 
troops  under  General  Fukusima,  with  whom  I 
have  become  most  friendly.     The  Russians  were 

'  Now  C.B. 

-  Now  Maj.-Gcn.  Sir  Arthur  Dorward,  K.C.B. 

355 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

encamped  in  the  country  across  the  river,  and 
Vice- Admiral  Alexeieff,  the  Russian  Viceroy  of  the 
East,  had  arrived  at  their  camp. 

It  was  a  nice  question  whether  he  or  I  should  pay 
the  first  visit,  he  being  junior  to  me  as  an  Admiral, 
but,  of  course,  of  higher  rank  as  Viceroy.  However, 
he  called  first  and  our  relations  were  always  very 
pleasant.  He  was  a  dignified  man,  with  pleasant 
manners. 

I  have  already  mentioned  my  German  and 
French  colleagues  in  our  expedition,  but  I  must 
also  refer  to  Captain  McCalla  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  whose  energy,  and  devoted  efforts  to  help 
me,  nothing  could  excel.  He  was  wounded  more 
than  once,  but  managed  to  lead  his  men  till  we  got 
back,  and  he  remained  my  valued  friend  till  his 
lamented  death. 

The  Russians  were  commanded  by  Captain 
Shaguin,  who  has  deservedly  risen  in  his  profession, 
and  is  now  a  Rear-Admiral,  and  lately  commanded 
his  Emperor's  yacht. 

I  hired  a  house  in  the  English  quarter  for 
myself  and  my  staff,  and  in  concert  with  the 
three  Generals  mentioned  above  conducted  the 
operations. 

On  our  return  to  Tiensin  we  all  much  wanted 
clothes.  I  got  a  suit  made  by  a  Chinese  tailor,  who 
then  said,  *  Maskee  me  catche  dollar  pigeon  more 
better  my  makee  whilo  chop  chop,'  to  which  I  re- 
plied that  he  must  stop  and  make  clothes  for  others 
as  fast  as  possible.  I  fancy  there  are  in  London 
at  times  people  who  would  not  object  if  their 
tailor  preferred  bolting  to  having  their  bill  paid  ! 

356 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  SETTLEMENT 

Captain  E.  H.  Bayly,  of  the  Aurora,  was  senior 
naval  officer  at  Tiensin  till  I  arrived,  and  had 
been  most  active  and  efficient. 

The  position  was  now  rather  a  peculiar  one  ; 
such  a  mixed  force  of  nationalities,  both  naval 
and  military,  and  such  a  variety  of  commanders, 
with  no  one  authorised  head,  perhaps  never  were 
associated  before  on  active  service,  but  it  worked 
very  well.  Though  it  was  hard  to  say  who  had 
the  chief  command,  I  was  the  senior  in  rank  and 
was  often  referred  to,  but  a  sailor  is  not  sup- 
posed to  command  soldiers  on  shore. 

Nearly  in  the  middle  of  the  settlement  was  the 
Town  Hall,  from  the  tower  of  which  one  got  a  fine 
view  all  round.  It  also  made  a  good  mark  for 
the  enemy's  guns,  but  though  shell  often  flew  by 
when  we  were  up  there,  it  suffered  but  little. 
Several  horses  were  at  times  grazing  in  a  paddock, 
into  which  the  shell  after  passing  this  tower  some- 
times fell,  and  I  used  to  look  to  see  what  happened, 
and  was  surprised  to  observe  how  little  the  horses 
noticed  the  shell,  unless  of  course  they  were  hit. 
The  lower  part  of  the  Town  Hall  was  used  as  the 
general  hospital.  Outside  Tiensin  were  two 
arsenals,  one  to  the  north-east  and  one  to  the  west, 
close  to  the  city  walls.  The  north-east  one  was 
taken  on  27th  June  by  a  mixed  force  of  Russians 
and  British. 

By  this  time  we  had  further  Naval  Brigade  men 
up  from  the  Fleet  ;  many  from  the  Barflciir  and 
other  ships,  Captain  J.  H.  T.  Burke,  of  the  Orlando, 
being  in  command  of  the  Brigade.  The  Terrible, 
lately    arrived  from  South  Africa,  also  supphed 

357 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

some  gun  mountings  as  designed  by  Captain 
Percy  Scott,  and  on  such  carriages  as  Captain 
Hedworth  Lambton  had  taken  to  the  defence  of 
Ladysmith. 

Among  our  garrison  was  the  '  First  Chinese 
Regiment,'  whose  behaviour  did  full  justice  to 
its  officers.  It  was  raised  at  Wei-hai-wei  for  the 
defence  of  that  place,  and  was  commanded  by 
Colonel  Hamilton  Bower,  and  officers  from  various 
regiments  of  our  Army.  I  had  watched  its 
growth  with  great  interest,  and  now  it  proved 
its  success  on  active  service.  Major  Bruce  of 
this  regiment  was  dangerously  wounded  in  the 
settlements,  but  happily  recovered. 

The  regiment  became  1200  strong,  consisting 
of  Chinamen  of  very  good  physique  and  behaviour ; 
but  the  ways  of  the  British  Government  are 
'  inscrutable,'  and  after  finding  that  the  regiment 
was  really  efficient  they  disbanded  it. 

On  the  28th,  while  writing  in  my  house,  a  bullet 
came  in  and  hit  me  fairly  hard.  Luckily  for  me 
it  was  spent  or  from  the  direction  I  should  have 
been  killed.  Perhaps  scientifically  speaking  I 
was  wrong,  but  after  that  I  felt  quite  safe  in  the 
same  place,  and  believe  many  others  would  do 
so  too,  on  the  doctrine  of  chances  ;  no  second 
bullet  being  likely  to  take  the  same  course. 1 

One  of  our  anxieties  was  that  Yuan-shi-kai,  the 
Governor  of  Shantung,  had  a  well-drilled  and 
armed  force,  supposed  to  be  4000  strong.  If  these 
also  came  against  us  our  position  would  at  least 

*  Some  of  my  readers  may  here  be  reminded  of  the  midship- 
man in  Peter  Simple,  and  the  calculation  by  Professor  Inman. 

358 


DIFFICULTY  OF  HOLDING  THE  RAILWAY  STATION 

be  desperate,  and  any  day  it  might  occur.  There 
is  no  doubt  we  have  to  thank  the  Viceroys  of 
Shantung  and  Nankin  that  our  task  in  China  in 
1900  was  not  a  much  heavier  one. 

I  was  anxious  to  get  all  the  women  and  children 
away,  both  for  their  immediate  safety,  and  also 
not  knowing  what  might  happen,  and  I  took 
every  opportunity  to  send  them  down  the  river 
and  lodge  them  on  board  our  ships.  Our  excellent 
Consul  was  Mr.  W.  R.  Carles,  who  had  a  wife  and 
some  children  ;  these  last  I  got  away  one  morning, 
and  that  very  afternoon  a  shell  came  in  and 
burst  in  their  nursery. 

Lieutenant  P.  N.  Wright  of  the  Orlando  was 
dangerously  wounded  by  a  shell  bursting  close 
to  him.  I  telegraphed  to  the  Admiralty  to  ask 
them  to  promote  him  at  once,  which  they  did,  and 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  telling  him  he  was  a  com- 
mander. Unhappily  he  did  not  recover  ;  but  his 
promotion  was  some  satisfaction  to  his  widow. 

The  railway  station  was,  I  think,  quite  the 
worst  position.  The  rolling  stock  in  it  was  all 
destroyed  and  the  walls  that  still  stood  were  like 
sieves,  for  the  holes  in  them.  Those  ordered  to 
hold  it  mildly  remonstrated,  and  I  remember 
telling  the  Russians  and  Japanese  to  relieve  each 
other — a  rather  curious  thing  looking  back  from 
a  few  years  later  !  Sometimes  I  had  an  assortment 
of  field-guns  out,  and  a  small  artillery  duel  with 
the  guns  on  the  city  walls,  where  a  pagoda,  till  we 
destroyed  it,  was  an  interesting  mark. 

On  8th  July  we  were  much  pleased  at  getting 
a  complimentary  telegram  from  130  members  of 

359 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

the  Royal  Navy  Club  at  their  annual  dinner  in 
London  to  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty. 
Sailors  appreciate  the  good  opinion  of  their  brother 
sailors  !     It  is  sincere. 

On  the  9th  we  took  the  west  arsenal  called 
Hi-kuan-su,  mentioned  on  p.  357.  To  do  this  a 
mixed  force  including  Russians,  all  really  com- 
manded by  the  Japanese  General  Fukusima, 
started  before  daylight,  and  first  made  a  detour 
to  the  south  end.  I  went  with  them.  Our 
seamen  were  under  Commander  Beatty  ^  of  the 
Barfieur,  who,  though  wounded  only  a  few  days 
before,  insisted  on  keeping  to  his  duty. 

When  approaching  the  arsenal  we  had  to 
descend  a  steep  bank  of  some  ten  feet.  I  was 
with  General  Fukusima  and  said  to  him :  '  Go 
first  and  I  will  ease  you  down ' — with  a  staff  I  had  ; 
he  did  so  and  I  followed,  and  while  so  doing  heard  a 
noise  just  behind  me  and  looking  round  was  told 
by  Major  Aoki,  the  General's  A.D.C.  :  '  It  is  lucky 
you  went  quickly  as  a  shrapnel  shell  [coming 
across  us  from  our  left]  just  passed  between  you 
and  me '  ;  which  it  did,  and  then  burst,  wounding 
for  one  Lieutenant  G.  Fair  of  my  staff. 

If  we  could  have  held  this  position,  it  would 
have  helped  to  keep  down  the  fire  from  the  city  on 
the  settlements.  I  had  hoped  to  be  able  to  do  so, 
but  when  I  saw  its  condition,  and  how  it  was 
commanded  from  the  walls,  I  felt  I  could  not 
order  men  to  remain  in  it. 

On  the  12th  I  felt  I  must  return  to  my  squadron. 

1  Now   Rear-Admiral    David    Beatty,    M.V.O.,   D.S.O.,    the 
youngest  Flag-officer  for  130  years. 

360 


DEPARTURE  FOR  SHANGHAI 

There  were  now  three  general  officers  at  Tiensin, 
and  the  matter  had  become  mostly  a  military 
one,  while  my  duty  was  of  course  afloat.  During 
my  absence  of  over  a  month  my  place  had  been 
most  ably  filled  by  my  colleague,  Rear-Admiral 
Bruce.  ^ 

I  did  not  like  to  leave  the  province  of  Chili,  in 
which  Pekin  and  the  Peiho  River  are,  but  I  was 
very  anxious  about  what  might  happen  at 
Shanghai,  and  in  the  Yang-tse  region  ;  and  a 
telegram  from  the  Admiralty,  taking  the  same 
view  as  I  did  of  the  possibility  of  an  outbreak 
down  there,  decided  me  on  going  at  once  to 
Shanghai. 

There  should  no  doubt  have  been  a  clasp 
given  for  Tiensin,  including  the  defence  of  the 
settlements  and  capture  of  the  city.  When  the 
long  duration  of  the  fighting,  the  large  number 
of  casualties,  and  the  importance  of  the  episode  in 
North  China  are  considered,  no  one,  I  think,  will 
dispute  this,  especially  when  it  is  compared  with 
what  some  clasps  were  given  for  in  another  con- 
tinent at  about  the  same  time.  I  did  my  utmost 
to  get  the  clasp  for  my  officers  and  men  ;  why 
it  was  not  given  I  know,  but  the  poor  reasons  I 
do  not  feel  at  liberty  to   mention. 

The  saying  '  Surgit  amari  aliquid  '  is  very  true, 
and  so  is  its  converse,  and  I  could  relate  several 
little  international  incidents  during  the  above 
period  which  were  very  amusing,  and  might  even 
be  of  interest  ;  but  although  not  at  all  to  the 
detriment  of  our  gallant  and  friendly  allies,  they 

'  Now  Admiral  Sir  James  Bruce,  K.C.M.G. 
361 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

arc  perhaps  best  omitted  lest  their  mention  be 
misunderstood.     Who  was  it  said — 

He  surely  must  be  pood  for  nought 
Who  is  not  humorous  prone  ; 
Who  has  not  got  a  merry  thought 
Can't  have  a  funny  bone —  ? 

But  I  may  express  my  thanks  to  my  foreign 
brother  officers  who  so  kindly  advised  and  sup- 
ported me,  especially  to  Vice-Admiral  Bendemann 
of  the  Imperial  German  Navy,  and  to  Rear- 
Admiral  Courejolles  of  the  French,  and  Rear- 
Admiral  Kempff  of  the  United  States,  Navies  ;  I 
can  only  hope  that  their  memories  of  me  are  as 
agreeable  as  are  mine  of  them. 


362 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

CHINA  COMMAND   (continued) 

Shanghai  —  The    Yang-tse — Pekin    reUeved  —  Shan-hai-quan  — 
Chen-wang-tao — The  Pier. 

On  my  way  south,  I  looked  into  Wei-hai-wei,  and 
found  it  full  of  people,  hospitals,  and  work,  the 
immediate  base  in  fact  of  our  operations. 

At  Shanghai  I  found  things  quiet,  but  people 
very  apprehensive  of  what  might  happen,  and 
meetings  took  place  to  arrange  for  its  defence  in 
case  of  attack. 

I  went  up  to  Nankin  to  see  the  Viceroy 
Lu-kung-yi.  There  we  had  to  drive  about  seven 
miles  through  roads  and  streets  mostly  lined  with 
Chinese  soldiers.  This  is  a  curious  illustration 
of  what  China  is  like  :  we  had  just  been  fighting 
with  Imperial  troops — as  well  as  with  Boxers — 
and  the  fighting  was  still  going  on  at  Pekin  ; 
yet  here  we  were  entirely  in  the  power  of  troops 
of  the  same  nation.  But  I  felt  it  right  whatever 
occurred  to  visit  the  Viceroy. 

Between  \\^oosung  and  Nankin  lay  a  squadron 
of  Chinese  ships  of  war,  with  whom  we  exchanged 
friendly  salutes  as  if  their  Empress  and  her  Govern- 
ment   were  not   at   war   with   us  and  attacking 

363 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

the  Legations,  but  China  is  at  present  an  exception 
to  all  ordinary  rules — and  unanimity  of  action  in 
its  different  provinces  does  not  yet  exist. 

Our  Consul  at  Nankin,  Mr.  Sundius,  was  in  an 
isolated  and  anxious  position,  and  any  moment 
disturbances  might  have  broken  out  and  his  life 
been  in  danger.  I  offered  to  send  one  or  two  naval 
officers  to  keep  him  compan}^  but  he  declined. 

It  is  a  proof  of  the  great  power  these  Chinese 
*  Satraps  '  wield,  that  peace  was  preserved  in  this 
region  though  affairs  were  much  strained.  We 
had  to  be  prepared  for  any  eventuality.  I  had 
pilots  subsidised  and  all  things  ready  to  force  our 
passage  up  the  Yang-tse  if  required,^  and  to  attack 
the  Kiang-yin  forts.  In  that  case  I  had  a  most 
able  colleague  in  General  O'Moore  Creagh,-  V.C, 
commanding  the  troops  at  Shanghai  ;  and  I  think 
he  will  forgive  me  if  I  say  he  would  not  have 
blamed  the  Viceroy  if  he  had  quite  failed  to 
prevent  an  outbreak  of  hostilities. 

The  Viceroy,  who  I  have  already  mentioned 
in  Chapter  XXVII,  received  me  as  before,  and 
our  interview  was  both  pleasant,  friendly  and 
satisfactory. 

In  August  we  heard  of  the  death  of  the  King 
of  Italy,  and  a  full-dress  funeral  service  was  per- 
formed at  the  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral  with 
great  state. 

With  the  military  expedition  to  Pekin  that 
relieved  the  Legations  I  had  nothing  to  do  except 

^  If  killed  in  action  the  pilot's  widow  was  to  be  pensioned 
like  the  widows  of  naval  lieutenants. 

*  Now  G.C.B.  and  Commander-in-Chief  in  India. 

364 


VALUE  OF  WEI-HAI-WEI  AS  A  BASE 

to  arrange  our  Naval  Brigade  under  the  command 
of  Captain  G.  A.  Callaghani  of  H.M.S.  Endymioft. 
The  expedition,  as  is  known,  succeeded  in  its 
object  on  14th  August. 

The  '  Forbidden  city  '  was  then  for  the  first 
time  entered  by  foreigners.  The  details  are 
matters  of  history.  Pekin  was  mercilessly  looted, 
which  with  eight  different  nationalities  was  per- 
haps inevitable.  '  Inter  armas  silent  leges,' 
and  looting  is  the  legalised  robbery  of  war ; 
very  few  souls  are  noble  enough  to  resist  the 
temptation.  I  should  think  the  booty  taken 
at  Pekin  in  1900  was  as  valuable  as  any  so  got 
in  the  lifetimes  of  the  present  generation. 

I  remained  at  or  near  Shanghai  till  the 
middle  of  September,  when  I  felt  it  time  again  to 
go  north.  I  found  Wei-hai-wei  amply  showing  its 
great  value  to  us  as  a  base  of  operations,  as  a 
naval  station,  a  military  depot,  a  general  hospital, 
and  a  sanatorium.  We  shall  be  foolish  if  we 
give  it  up  voluntarily. 

Off  Taku  Bar  I  found  ten  Admirals,  with 
ships-of-war  in  proportion. 

Soon  after  the  German  Field-Marshal,  Count 
Waldersee,  arrived,  having  been  sent  by  the 
German  Emperor  with  the  accord  of  some  of  the 
other  nations  concerned,  to  take  the  place  at 
Pekin  of  the  senior  international  military  officer. 
I,  of  course,  called  on  the  Field-Marshal,  and  I 
found  him  a  courteous  gentleman  full  of  vigour, 
both  of  mind  and  body,  and  seeming  young  for 
his  age,   which   I   believe  was  sixty-seven.     His 

'  Now  Vice-Admiral  Sir  George  Callaghan.  K.C.B.,  K.C.V.O. 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

position  in  China  was  a  difficult  one,  as  all  present 
were  not  prepared  to  accept  him  as  their  chief.  I 
could  say  a  good  deal  on  this  question,  but  had  better 
only  again  remark  that  I  am  not  writing  history. 

It  now,  however,  became  my  duty  again  to 
have  conferences  of  the  allied  Admirals,  and 
arrange  for  an  expedition  to  Chen-wang-tao  and 
Shan-hai-quan.  The  latter  place  is  where  the 
great  wall  of  China  runs  down  to  the  sea,  and 
though  it  is  not  exactly  the  line  between  China 
and  Manchuria,  which  begins  a  few  miles  farther 
north,  it  is  so  virtually  ;  and  at  Shan-hai-quan 
are  many  forts,  and  the  question  of  how  to  deal 
with  them  had  to  be  considered.  It  was  thought 
we  should  have  to  bombard  and  take  them,  and 
the  part  each  nation  should  take  in  this  had  to  be 
arranged. 

But  at  the  last  moment  before  we  were  going 
to  start  with  the  above  object,  our  gunboat,  the 
Pigmy,  arrived  early  one  morning  to  say  the 
forts  had  surrendered  to  her.  It  was  truly  a 
case  of  du  siihlime  ait  ridicule,  and  the  gunboat's 
name  was  very  appropriate. 

I  pass  over  details,  but  the  end  was  that  we 
all  proceeded  up  there,  and  I  then  had  to  visit  all 
the  forts  with  my  brother  Admirals,  and  arrange 
how  they  should  be  shared  out  and  garrisoned. 

The  Commander  of  the  Pigmy,  Lieutenant  J. 
Green,  carried  out  a  difficult  position  extremely 
well.  A  comic  paper  at  Shanghai — a  sort  of 
Punch — hit  the  situation  off  so  ably  with  a  cartoon, 
that  I  sent  it  to  the  Admiralty,  and  think  it 
helped  to  the  officer's  promotion  ! 

"366 


OCCUPATION  OF  SHAN-HAI-QUAN  FORTS 

Our  Russian  friends,  with  that  Uberal  desire 
for  the  occupation  and  civiHsation  of  the  Far 
East  of  Asia  for  which  they  are  justly  renowned, 
had  contemplated  saving  their  allies  the  trouble 
of  occupying  the  Shan-hai-quan  forts  by  doing 
so  themselves.  Unfortunately  for  the  Russians 
this  did  not  at  all  suit  me  or  my  other  colleagues, 
and  their  troops  arrived  too  late. 

The  circumstances  of  the  occupation  of  Shan- 
hai-quan  were  a  little  complicated,  though  re- 
lieved by  several  touches  of  humour ;  but  I 
will  confine  myself  to  saying  that  we  agreed  that 
the  principal  coast  fort  should  be  common  pro- 
perty, and  that  all  our  national  flags  should  fly 
on  it.  Their  order  of  precedence  was  difficult  to 
decide.  I  might  have  made  it  according  to  the 
Admirals'  seniorities,  but  thought  it  best  to 
go  in  alphabetical  order  of  the  nations'  names, 
using  French  as  the  language  of  diplomacy.  The 
other  forts  were  divided  among  the  various 
nationalities  for  occupation  during  the  coming 
winter. 

As  senior  national  officer  present,  much  de- 
volved on  me,  and  to  me  were  addressed  the 
complaints  of  the  Chinese  as  to  what  had  occurred 
in  the  city  of  Shan-hai-quan.  I  shall  mention  no 
names,  but  only  remark  we  arc  yet  very  far  from 
the  ideal  of  what  civilisation  even  in  war  time 
should  be. 

It  being  our  intention  to  occupy  these  forts, 
as  mentioned  above,  and  as  the  ice  in  \\inter 
made  communication  with  the  shore  in  the  Gulfs 
of  Pechili  and  Liau-tong  very  difficult,  we  had  to 

367 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

seriously  consider  how  best  to  solve  this  problem. 
My  brother  Admirals  did  so  by  agreeing  to  leave 
it  all  to  me  ;  in  this,  of  course,  they  showed  their 
sense,  as  they  avoided  both  the  trouble  and 
responsibility. 

Having  then  found  out  all  I  could  about  the 
matter,  I  decided  that  the  best  way  was  to  build 
a  pier  at  a  place  called  Chen-wang-tao,  a  few 
miles  south  of  Shan-hai-quan,  and  comparatively 
very  free  from  ice  in  winter.  There  were  many 
difficulties,  but  a  contractor  was  got  and  the 
work  began.  Paying  for  the  pier  had  to  be 
arranged  among  the  nations  ;  we  tried  to  divide 
it  according  to  the  numbers  of  the  garrisons ; 
but  in  this  my  first  experience  of  financial  assess- 
ments, I  found  it  not  easy  to  give  general  satis- 
faction !     I  fancy  it  often  is  not. 

That  winter  the  ice  formed  to  thirteen  miles 
off  the  land  at  Shan-hai-quan.  The  Peiho  River, 
which  is  frozen  on  an  average  for  sevent}^  days 
every  winter,  is  only  one  degree  south  of  the 
Tagus. 

I  then  visited  Tiensin,  and  found  peace 
and  some  order  again  prevailing,  with  a  strong 
garrison  of  troops.  The  German  Field-Marshal, 
with  his  headquarters,  was  there  for  the  present. 
There  was  much  to  settle  with  our  foreign  allies, 
but  after  a  few  busy  days  I  returned  to  my 
naval   duties. 


36S 


CHAPTER  XXXIIT 

CHINA  COMMAND   (continued) 

The  Yang-tse — Death  of  H.M.  Queen  Victoria — Hong-Kong — 
Ticnsin — Pekin — The  Forbidden  City — Newchwang — Nan- 
kin— Wei-hai-wei — Relieved  in  Command — Arrive  Home. 

I  WENT  to  Shanghai  and  the  Yang-tse,  and  again 
visited  my  friend  the  Viceroy  of  Nankin,  and 
then  went  on  to  Hankow  to  call  on  Chang-Chi- 
Tung,  the  Viceroy  of  the  Hukuang.  I  have 
mentioned  him  before  in  Chapter  XX VH.  This 
was  my  third  visit  to  him.  He  was  then  about 
sixty-five  years  old,  but  looked  much  more.  The 
Chinese  often  ask  you  how  old  you  are,  and  when 
told,  it  is  considered  polite  for  them  to  say, 
'  Dear  me,  I  should  have  thought  you  were  much 
older,'  meaning  because  you  look  so  worthy  of 
the   greatest   respect. 

The  Chinese  Viceroys  occupy  positions  un- 
known as  subjects  in  Europe,  and  any  foreign 
officer  in  a  prominent  position  should  visit  and 
treat  them  accordingly. 

I  had  to  leave  the  Alacrity  at  Kiukiang,  fifty 
miles  below  Hankow,  and  go  up  in  a  destroyer, 
for  want  of  water.  On  our  return  we  had  to  go 
full  speed,  and  I  fear  our  wave  did  much  harm 

369  2    B 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

to  many  Chinese  small  craft,  but  no  time  could 
be  spared. 

The  birthday  of  the  Dowager  Empress  of 
China  was  on  ist  December  ;  I  happened  then 
to  be  in  company  with  a  Chinese  squadron  in  the 
Yang-tse,  and  we  saluted  and  did  honour  to  the 
old  lady  as  if  she  had  been  still  reigning  at  Pekin 
instead  of  a  refugee  in  hiding. 

I  felt  it  right  to  stay  at  Shanghai  till  February 
in  view  of  possible  occurrences.  So  I  was  there 
when  the  melancholy  news  reached  us  of  the 
death  of  our  great  Queen  Victoria.  We  heard 
it  on  24th  January,  our  time  being  eight  hours 
in  advance  of  England.  Her  reign  was  the 
longest  of  any  English  Sovereign. 

On  the  27th  was  the  birthday  of  the  German 
Emperor,  and  all  men-of-war  present  dressed  with 
flags  to  honour  it  ;  except  my  flagship,  which 
remained  with  the  Royal  Standard  at  half-mast. 

On  2nd  February  we  had  a  memorial  service 
at  the  English  Cathedral  here  to  do  honour  to 
the  interment  of  our  late  Queen.  Besides  our 
own,  about  seventy  foreign  officers,  naval  and 
military,  attended,  all,  of  course,  in  full  dress. 
With  the  bands,  and  with  the  Indian  pipers  from 
Indian  regiments  here,  the  ceremony  was  very 
impressive.  In  the  afternoon  we  fired  eighty-one 
minute  guns,  for  the  age  of  our  late  Sovereign,  and 
so  timed  as  to  end  at  sunset. 

WTiile  at  Shanghai  I  got  a  telegram  from  the 
Admiralty,  asking  me  to  remain  out  six  months 
longer  than  my  proper  time  ;  this  I  felt  to  be  a 
great  compliment,  but  I  had  anyhow  no  hesitation 

37^ 


EXTENSION  OF   COMMISSION 

in  accepting  it,  as  besides  my  love  of  sea  service - 
I  took  the  greatest  interest  in  the  China  Station. 

H.M.S.  Glory  about  now  arrived  from  Eng- 
land, a  new  class  of  battleship  quite  superior  to 
the  Centurion  in  size  and  power.  The  Admiralty 
offered  me  to  change  to  her  as  my  flagship, 
and  perhaps,  had  I  expected  soon  to  be  in  a  ship 
action,  I  would  have  done  so  ;  but  one  is  loath  to 
leave  one's  old  ship  and  shipmates. 

In  February  I  went  down  to  Hong-Kong,  a 
place  one  was  always  glad  to  be  at  in  the  winter. 
It  is  just  cold  enough  to  enjoy  a  fire  and  feel  it 
is  not  summer.  The  walks  about  the  island  are 
beautiful,  and  as  a  winter  climate  there  is  no  place 
in  Europe  I  like  so  much. 

In  April  I  was  again  at  Shanghai ;  this  place 
is  like  no  other  I  know  of,  being  a  thoroughly  cos- 
mopolitan trading  settlement.  The  chief  nations 
have  their  own  quarters,  presided  over  by  their 
Consuls,  or  elected  committees,  and  society  there- 
fore has  the  charm  of  being  very  varied,  and  by 
no  means  narrow-minded.  It  is  hardly  a  port 
at  all,  as  only  moderate-sized  vessels  can  get  up 
to  it,  and  the  anchorage  off  the  mouth  of  its 
river  is  a  poor  one ;  however,  its  position  is 
central  for  China,  and  it  does,  and  will,  flourish. 

I  paid  a  last  visit  to  Tiensin  and  Pekin  ;  the 
wreck  of  our  railway  trains  just  above  Yang-tsu 
was  a  most  melancholy  sight.  The  railway 
stations  were  still  all  garrisoned  for  protection. 

On  this  occasion  I  saw  the  wreck  of  a  train, 
caused  by  a  sand  storm.  The  sand  was  so  hard 
that  the  engine  left  the  rails,  unfortunately  just 

371 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

as  it  approached  a  bridge,  over  which  it  fell,  and 
remained  with  its  wheels  in  the  air.  Strange  to 
say  the  driver  and  stoker  were  saved  by  the 
cab,  and  not  badly  hurt,  though  others  in  the 
train  were  killed.  This  accident  occurred  near 
Lofa  station,  and  by  one  of  the  bridges  that  we 
had  repaired.  The  North  China  sand  -  storms 
are  really  bad  simoons,  as  I  have  mentioned 
before. 

At  Pekin  I  was  received  in  the  most  kind 
and  complimentary  way  at  the  station  by  our 
Minister,  our  General,  and  others  ;  and  I  was 
now  able  to  visit  and  see  what  before  1900  was 
jealously  secluded  ;  but  other  pens  than  mine 
have  well  described  it  all,  so  I  must  refrain. 

It  was  most  interesting  to  have  the  siege  of 
the  Legations  exactly  explained  on  the  site  by 
actors  in  that  drama.  Their  defence  was  most 
creditable,  and  it  wdll  always  be  a  curious  question 
why  they  were  not  destroyed.  Probably  it  was 
owing  to   vacillating  counsels,    and   disunions. 

Riding  out  to  the  new  Summer  Palace,  about 
nine  miles  to  the  north-west  of  Pekin,  I  passed 
the  ruins  of  the  old  one  destroyed  by  us  and 
the  French  in  i860,  and  since  then  quite  neg- 
lected and  left  as  it  was. 

The  *  Forbidden  City,'  i.e.  the  Emperor's 
palace  and  demesne  inside  Pekin,  is  a  striking 
instance  of  how  the  Chinese,  when  a  building  has 
been  completed,  even  with  great  care  and  expense, 
neglect  its  upkeep :  spacious  halls  with  ill-kept 
walls  and  ceilings,  and  flights  of  marble  steps 
with  weeds  on  them,  are  not  uncommon  sights. 

372 


THE    'FORBIDDEN  CITY' 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  spot  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  '  Forbidden  City  '  is  the  Peitang 
(or  North  Church)  where  the  Roman  Cathohc 
Christians  were  besieged  at  the  same  time  as 
the  Legations.  The  marks  of  shot  on  it  were 
innumerable,  and  five  hundred  people  are  said  to 
have  been  killed  or  died  in  its  defence  ;  one 
mine  exploded  near  it  is  said  to  have  killed  a 
hundred.  When  the  relief  of  the  Legations  took 
place  I  believe  the  Japanese  first  reached  the 
Peitang. 

But  I  must  not  let  myself  enlarge  on  these 
too  interesting  subjects.  I  left  Pekin  with  regret, 
paid  a  farewell  visit  to  Tiensin,  and  went  to  see 
our  pier  at  Ching-wan-tao — mentioned  above. 

I  afterwards  visited  General  Reid,  in  com- 
mand of  our  troops,  occupying  with  our  allies  the 
Shan-hai-quan  forts.  He  had  spent  the  winter 
here,  and  seen  much  of  the  special  characteristics 
of  our  international  co-operators,  which  he  de- 
tailed with  Caledonian  humour — and  some  severe 
strictures. 

Such  a  combination  of  several  nations'  gar- 
risons in  close  quarters  during  a  severe  winter 
perhaps  has  never  occurred. 

I  could  not  resist  again  going  to  Newchwang, 
the  great  port  for  the  export  of  beans  and  bean 
cake  from  Manchuria  ;  136,363  tons  of  the  above 
are  said  to  have  gone  from  here  in  a  year,  of  a 
value  of  three  million  pounds  sterling.  The 
freedom  of  this  place  from  other  than  Chinese 
control  had  often  exercised  my  mind. 

I  had  another  visit  to  pay  to  Shanghai  and  the 
373 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

Yang-tse  River,  and  calling  at  Wei-hai-wei  heard 
I  had  become  an  '  Admiral  ' — or  as  called  in 
contradistinction  to  the  lower  flag  ranks,  a 
Full  Admiral.  I  went  first  to  Hankow  to  see 
again  Chang-Chi-Tung,  the  Viceroy  of  Hukuang. 
Here  also  I  found  the  Austrian  Admiral  Count 
Monticucolli  in  his  flagship  ;  my  relations  with 
him  had  always  been  most  agreeable,  and  he 
possessed  a  sense  of  humour  at  times  quite 
refreshing. 

My  last  Chinese  visit  was  to  my  friend  Lu- 
Kung-yi,  the  Viceroy  of  the  Liang  Kiang  at  Nankin. 
I  was  sorry  to  take  leave  of  him,  and  regret  that 
death  has  since  deprived  his  country  of  his  services. 

The  Taotai  of  Nankin  brought  his  children  to 
see  me  ;  one,  a  little  girl  about  ten,  was  most  intelli- 
gent, and  being  brought  up  as  a  young  blue 
stocking  was  learning  several  of  the  awful  Chinese 
ideographic  characters  a  day,  and  now  knew 
two  thousand  of  them.  But  what  a  waste  of  time 
learning  such  an  alphabet  seems  to  be. 

I  then  paid  my  last  visit  to  Shanghai,  where  I 
was  entertained  as  the  guest  at  a  large  dinner  by 
the  Shanghai  branch  of  the  China  Association. 
No  naval  officer  who  has  served  much  in  China 
can  fail  to  take  gi'eat  interest  in  our  commerce 
there,  or  to  realise  how  greatly  our  mercantile 
community  there  appreciate  any  efforts  of  the 
Navy  to  protect  and  assist  them. 

Once  more  I  went  to  Wei-hai-wei,  and  while 
there  the  ist  Chinese  Regiment,  of  which  I  have 
before  spoken,  was  paraded  before  me,  about 
1200  strong  ;    a  flne  and  well-drilled  body  of  men, 

374 


FAREWELL  DINNERS 

showing  what  can  be  done  with  the  Chinese  by 
British  officers,  wlio  I  beheve  are  superior  to  all 
other  nations  in  dealing  with  natives  other  than 
European. 

My  Captains  gave  me  a  farewell  dinner  on 
2ist  June  which  I  very  much  appreciated.  Sailors 
are  honest  and  straightforward. 

On  25th  June  H.M.S.  Glory  arrived  with  my 
friend  Vice- Admiral  Sir  Cyprian  Bridge,  who 
next  day  relieved  me  in  command  of  the  China 
Station. 

On  the  26th  I  left  in  the  Centurion  really  sorry 
to  vacate  my  command.  We  called  at  Hong-Kong, 
where  the  Governor,  Sir  Henry  Blake,  and 
the  China  Association,  respectivety,  gave  me 
farewell  banquets,  and  on  3rd  July  I  sailed  for 
England. 

In  1858,  at  just  the  same  season  of  the  year, 
when  in  the  Pique  1  (as  before  related)  we  were 
fifty  days  on  our  passage  from  Hong-Kong  to 
Singapore  ;  in  the  Centurion  we  were  now  only  five 
days,  or  one-tenth  of  the  time. 

After  Singapore  we  coaled  at  Pulo  Weh,  a 
small  Dutch  island  off  the  north  end  of  Sumatra, 
with  a  good  harbour  ;  it  may  become  a  very  import- 
ant strategic  position  to  some  nation — which  ? 

We  called  at  Colombo  and  again  filled  up  coal, 
having  to  contend  with  the  full  force  of  the 
south-west  monsoon,  which  as  you  approach 
Africa  is  very  strong  with  a  heavy  head  sea. 

At  Mount  Lavinia,  near  Colombo,  I  visited  our 
Boer  prisoners  of  war,  and  talked  to  many  who 

'  See  page  70. 

375 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

spoke  English  ;  mostly  they  said  they  still  expected 
to  win  in  South  Africa. 

We  coaled  at  Perim,  which  nature  has  surely 
put  there  for  the  purpose,  and  for  England  ;  the 
story  of  our  taking  possession  of  it  is  too  well 
known  to  repeat. 

Going  on  to  Suez  we  found  the  absurdity  of 
the  bogey  quarantine  awaiting  us,  in  the  news 
that  because  the  plague  existed  in  China — though 
we  had  not  had  a  case — we  must  hoist  two  yellow 
flags,  and  not  take  in  a  pilot.  This  last  we  did  not 
mind ;  but  being,  as  we  were,  in  strict  quarantine 
the  rest  of  the  way  to  England,  viz.  at  Port  Said, 
Malta,  and  Gibraltar,  was  equally  ridiculous  and 
tiresome. 

On  19th  August  we  arrived  at  Portsmouth,  and 
went  into  harbour.  We  got  a  most  hearty 
reception,  cheers  from  the  ships  and  the  shore, 
and  visits  from  many  friends  ;  all  really  inspiriting 
and  touching. 

Next  day.  Lord  Selborne,  then  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  paid  us  the  special  compliment  of 
coming  on  board  to  receive  us,  and  to  give  us  His 
Majestj^'s  message  of  approval,  and  of  welcome 
home — an  honour  we  all  immensely  appreciated. 

On  the  2ist  I  left  the  ship,  and  my  flag  was 
hauled  down  :  such  leave  takings  are  things  not 
easily  forgotten.  These  endings  of  the  chief  phases 
of  our  lives  are  the  milestones  of  our  existence ! 


376 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

ADMIRAL 

The  King's  Telegram — Decorations — Portsmouth  Banquet — 
Royal  Visit  to  Devonport — With  H.R.H.  Duke  of  Connaught 
to  Madrid — Order  of  Merit — The  Coronation. 

On  our  arrival  in  England  the  King  was  abroad, 
but  honoured  me  with  a  most  kind  telegram  on 
my  return.  On  nth  September  the  Mayor  of 
Portsmouth,  with  the  Corporation  and  Borough, 
entertained  myself,  the  officers  and  ship's  company 
of  the  Centurion  at  a  banquet  in  the  Town  Hall 
of  Portsmouth.  Lord  Selborne,  the  First  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  also  was  present.  There  were,  of 
course,  speeches  ;  we  (the  guests)  regarded  it  as  a 
great  compliment,  and  I  think  such  welcomes  do 
good  and  are  valued  by  the  men. 

About  now  the  King  arranged  with  the 
German  Emperor  that  decorations  should  be 
exchanged  between  England  and  Prussia  for  the 
war  service  in  North  China  in  1900.  I  had  to 
nominate  the  German  officers,  while  the  German 
Admiral  had  to  nominate  ours,  and  it  had  to  be 
considered  what  decorations  on  either  side  were 

377 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

equivalent  to  those  on  the  other.  This  is  a  little 
difficult  ;  but  all  was  arranged  satisfactorily,  I 
think. 

That  winter  I  visited  Italy,  Malta  and  France  ; 
it  is  very  good  for  sailors  after  long  foreign  service 
to  get  a  real  variety  of  scene  and  society. 

In  March  1902  the  King  and  Queen  visited 
Devonport  in  the  Royal  Yacht,  and  on  8th 
March  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  launched  the  ship 
called  after  her  ;  and  then  the  King  laid  the  first 
keel-plate  of  the  ship  to  be  honoured  with  his 
name — a  very  apposite  double  function. 

Previously  the  King  honoured  me  by  pre- 
senting us  with  our  China  medals  at  Keyham.  I 
was  given  a  second  Chinese  medal,  having  one 
already  for  the  former  wars  there.  It  is  probably 
rare  for  anyone  to  have  tw^o  medals  for  wars  in  the 
same  country. 

This  spring  the  King  sent  the  Duke  of  Con- 
naught  to  Madrid,  as  the  head  of  a  mission  to 
invest  the  King  of  Spain  with  the  Order  of  the 
Garter,  on  his  assuming  the  reins  of  government  ; 
and  I  was  selected  to  go  in  the  Duke's  suite  as  the 
naval  representative. 

We  went  out  in  the  Ro^^al  Yacht,  the  Victoria 
and  Albert,  to  Bilboa,  where  we  landed,  and  went 
on  to  Madrid.  There  was,  of  course,  a  grand 
reception. 

Her  Majesty  Queen  Christina  (the  Queen 
Regent),  as  the  Sovereign  of  Spain  received  the 
Duke,  and  the  missions  from  other  nations  that 
arrived  at  the  same  time. 

The  first  evening  a  great  banquet  was  given 
378 


GARTER  MISSION  TO   KING  OF   SPAIN 

in  the  Palace,  and  the  Queen  conferred  various 
Orders  on  the  members  of  the  different  missions. 

The  Palace  at  Madrid  is  among  the  finest  in 
Europe,  and  its  site  is  good,  being  on  an  elevation. 
While  we  were  there  the  magnificent  Goya  tapes- 
tries were  displayed  in  the  Palace  ;  they  were  so 
large  and  numerous  that  they  were  hung  round 
the  immense  staircases. 

The  next  day  the  investiture  of  the  King  with 
the  Garter  took  place  in  one  of  the  large  salons 
of  the  Palace ;  for  such  functions  everything  should 
be  carefully  planned  and  rehearsed  beforehand. 
We  had  done  so. 

The  various  members  of  the  Duke's  suite 
carried  on  cushions  the  different  emblems  of  the 
Order  of  the  Garter,  which  in  proper  order  were 
taken  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  as  a 
Grandee  of  Spain  had  very  fitly  been  selected 
for  this  office,  and  were  by  him  handed  to 
H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Connaught,  who  carried  out 
the  investiture. 

The  ceremony  of  the  King's  taking  the  oaths 
was  not  performed  till  the  next  day,  in  the  Church 
of  San  Francisco. 

The  King  of  Spain  is  not  crowned,  but  the 
Crown  is  placed  on  a  cushion  by  his  side  as  he 
publicly  takes  the  oaths.  The  whole  ceremony  and 
service,  with  a  '  Te  Deum,'  were  very  impressive. 

Madrid  was  en  fete,  the  houses  decorated 
with  flags  and  festoons  of  all  sorts,  and  I  am  glad 
to  say  no  contretemps  of  any  sort  occurred  to  mar 
the  harmony  and  gaiety  of  the  whole  proceedings. 

No  great  festival  in  Spain  seems  perfect 
379 


'  MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

without  bull  fights  (if  in  season,  which  is  summer)  ; 
many  bull  fights  took  place  during  the  week  we 
were  in  Madrid,  but  the  State  bull  figlits  on  the 
last  day  were  attended  by  the  King,  the  Queen 
Mother,  and  all  the  Royalties  and  their  suites 
who  had  come  to  the  celebration. 

Most  people  know  pretty  well  what  a  bull 
fight  is  like,  but  I  may  briefly  remark  that  its 
chief  cruelty,  at  least  to  my  mind,  consists  in  the 
brutality  to  the  horses  ;  the  bull  it  is  true  is  always 
killed,  but  till  killed,  his  sufferings  are  not  much, 
and  his  excitement  and  anger  no  doubt  minimise 
them,  such  as  they  are  ;  but  the  occasional  treat- 
ment of  the  horses  is  such  as  I  will  not  describe. 

However,  on  the  occasion  of  the  State  bull 
fights,  one  of  them  is  what  is  called  '  Caballeros  en 
plaza.'  The  riders  in  this  are  gentlemen  mounted 
on  valuable  horses  which  are  their  own  property, 
and  every  precaution  is  taken  to  prevent  their 
being  hurt.  I  believe  this  performance  is  very 
rare. 

The  bull  seems  to  me  a  very  stupid  animal  on 
the  whole,  but  is  very  active  ;  I  have  seen  one  leap 
over  the  boundary  fence  of  the  ring,  which  was 
about  eight  feet  high.  Much  commotion  ensued 
among  the  spectators.  The  men  are  seldom  hurt, 
and  if  they  are,  one  feels  their  being  there  is  quite 
voluntary  on  their  part.  The  '  Matador  ' — or 
slayer  (from  matar — to  kill) — is  the  hero  of  the 
Spanish  feminine  world,  and  often  makes  a  great 
deal  of  money.  The  theory  is  that  he  always 
kills  the  bull  with  one  thrust  of  his  sword  :  but 
in  practice  this  is,  I  believe,  rare. 

380 


ORDER  OF   MERIT 

I  will  not  inflict  on  my  readers  any  description 
of  Madrid,  but  only  say  that  the  ceremonies  lasted 
about  a  week,  after  which  the  Duke  of  Connaught 
with  his  suite  returned  in  the  Royal  Yacht  to 
England. 

This  spring  I  was  a  member  of  a  committee 
on  the  question  of  manning  the  Navy,  and  of  a 
Naval  Reserve.  Our  very  able  chairman  was 
Sir  Edward  Grey.  The  committee  lasted  several 
weeks,  and  its  recommendations  were  in  great 
part  adopted  by  the  Admiralty. 

The  26th  June  1902  was  to  have  been  the 
Coronation  Day  of  His  Majesty  King  Edward  VII. 
The  sorrow  and  anxiety  created  by  his  serious 
illness  that  caused  its  postponement  will  be  long 
remembered  by  survivors. 

On  that  day  the  King  instituted  the  Order  of 
Merit,  the  naval  members  of  which  were  Admiral 
of  the  Fleet  the  Hon.  Sir  Henry  Keppel  and 
myself. 

I  consider  the  Order  of  Merit  to  be  the  highest 
compliment  paid  by  the  Sovereign  to  a  subject, 
not  only  because  the  number  is  very  limited,  but 
because  it  is  awarded  for  prolonged  work,  or 
service,  of  the  kind  specially  germane  to  the 
individual ;  and  not  only  for  a  short  or  sudden 
action. 

The  King  having  happily  recovered  his  health, 
preparations  for  the  Coronation  were  resumed  ; 
in  them  I  played  a  small  part,  being  selected  to 
ride  in  the  Coronation  procession  and  join  in  the 
Abbey  ceremonials.  Participants  in  the  procession 
through  the  streets  see  nothing  of  the  procession, 

381 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

but  they  see  the  streets  of  London  in  an  extra- 
ordinary guise,  and  it  is  a  sight  well  worth  seeing. 

On  i6th  August  the  King  reviewed  his  Fleet 
at  Spithead,  and  I  was  honoured  with  a  command 
to  attend  on  board  the  Royal  Yacht,  from  which 
the  scene  was  most  impressive. 

In  October  1902  the  King  made  me  his  First 
and  Principal  Naval  A.D.C.,  which  I  continued 
to  be  till  I  became  Commander-in-Chief  at  Devon- 
port  ;  when  I  was  relieved  from  the  above  position, 
which  I  think  is  right,  as  the  holder  of  it  should  be 
free,  and  at  the  immediate  call  of  the  Sovereign. 

The  same  month  I  and  all  the  other  King's 
A.D.C.'s  rode  in  His  Majesty's  procession  to  the 
Guildhall  banquet. 

In  March  1903  I  became  Commander-in-Chief 
at  Plymouth. 


382 


CHAPTER  XXXV 


PLYMOUTH  COMMAND 


House  Book — Cambridge  Degree  of  LL.D. — Visit  of  T.R.H.  the 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales  to  Devonport — German 
Squadron's  Visit — Three  Admirals — Promoted  to  Admiral  of 
the  Fleet. 

The  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  kindl}^  offered 
me  my  choice  of  either  Plymouth  or  Portsmouth, 
but  I  chose  Plymouth,  partly  because  it  was 
vacant  six  months  sooner  than  the  other,  and  I 
could  only  hold  either  till  two  years  after  that 
date. 

Admiral  in  command  of  a  home  port  is  as  a 
rule  the  end  of  one's  service  ;  its  duties  are  greatly 
social  ones,  but  when  all  is  considered  such 
appointments  do  not  leave  one  much  spare  time. 

I  know  both  Portsmouth  and  Plymouth  well, 
and  have  always  considered  as  a  residence  the  latter 
preferable  to  the  former,  because  you  are  living 
more  in  the  count^^  society,  and  the  kindness  of 
your  Devon  and  Cornish  neighbours  is  endless. 

I  succeeded  my  friend  Admiral  Lord  Charles 
Scott,  in  whose  time,  and  with  whose  assistance, 
plans  had  been  made  by  tlie  Admiralty  to  alter 

383 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

both  the  Admiralty  House  and  the  grounds  about 
it  ;    and  these  were  now  carried  out. 

This  partly  induced  me,  with  the  help  of  my 
Flag-lieutenant  (Lieutenant  C.  N.  T.  Carill- 
Worsley),  to  start  a  '  House  book,'  by  which  I 
mean  a  volume  containing  a  history  of  the  house, 
so  far  as  known,  wdth  plans  and  views,  &c. ;  to 
be  continued  and  kept  up  to  date,  with  any  details 
of  the  inmates,  or  of  events,  that  seem  worthy 
of  record.  I  never  heard  of  such  a  book  anywhere 
else,  but  only  fancy  the  immense  interest  of  one 
such  that  had  long  been  kept  in  some  of  our 
historic  mansions.  I  mention  the  above  in  hopes 
some  one  may  read  this  and  copy  my  example. 

During  my  command  at  Plymouth  but  few 
events  occurred  worth  relating. 

A  great  dinner  of  welcome  home  was  given  in 
the  Guildhall,  Plymouth,  to  the  2nd  Battalion  of 
the  Duke  of  Cornwall's  Light  Infantry.  I  was 
present  and  had  to  speak,  and  I  think  surprised 
them  by  saying  I  had  probably  known  the  regi- 
ment longer  than  anyone  else  there,  as  I  made 
their  acquaintance  on  board  the  Prince  on  their 
arrival  in  the  Crimea  in  1854,  when  they  were  the 
46th  Regiment,  and  had  they  arrived  a  few  days 
later  they  would  probably  all  have  been  lost  in 
that  ship,  as  she  was  wrecked  in  the  gale  of  14th 
November. 

In  June  1903  I  had  the  great  honour  of  ha\'ing 
the  degree  of  LL.D.  '  Honoris  causa'  conferred  on 
me  by  the  University  of  Cambridge.  The  meaning, 
of  course,  is  Doctor  of  both  Civil  and  Church  Law 
— once  I  beheve  it  was  called  '  J.U.D.'  or  '  juris 

384 


PROMOTED  TO  ADMIRAL  OF  THE  FLEET 

utrusque  doctor.'  The  ceremony  was  to  me 
very  interesting,  and  the  compliment  I  highly 
appreciated. 

In  July  1903  their  Royal  Highnesses  the 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales,  now  our  King 
and  Queen,  visited  the  port,  for  H.R.H.  the  Prin- 
cess of  Wales  to  launch  H.M.S.  Khtg  Edward  VII, 
whose  keel-plate  was  laid  by  the  King  in  March 
1902.1 

In  July  1904  a  large  German  squadron  visited 
us  at  Plymouth,  commanded  by  Admiral  von 
Koester,  with  two  Rear- Admirals.  I  think  I  may 
say  that  the  visit  went  off  in  the  pleasantest  and 
most  friendly  way  in  all  respects. 

When  I  dined  with  the  German  Admiral  on 
board  his  flagship  in  Plymouth  Sound,  he  did 
me  the  honour  to  ask  to  meet  me  such  officers 
of  his  squadron  as  had  been  under  my  command 
on  shore  in  our  Chinese  expedition  in  1900,  and 
he  also  had  fallen  in  on  deck  as  a  guard  of  honour 
the  seamen  who  had  served  on  the  same  occasion. 
It  was  a  compliment  that  touched  me  greatly, 
and  was  well  worthy  of  German  heads  and  hearts. 
On  20th  February  1905  I  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  Admiral  of  the  Fleet,  which  meant 
my  vacating  my  post  as  Commander-in-Chief  at 
Plymouth. 

I  may  here  just  mention  that  a  very  extra- 
ordinary position  in  the  Navy  List  had  occurred 
about  a  year  before,  viz.  that  the  three  senior 
Admirals  next  each  other  at  the  top  of  the  active 
list  had  all  been  boys  together  at  the  same  school 

'  See  p.  378. 

385  «c 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

fifty-two    years    previously — viz.     Lord     Walter 
Kerr,  Lord  Charles  Scott,  and  myself — at  Radley. 

When  the  nunriber  of  boys,  schools,  and  naval 
officers  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  considered,  I 
think  it  would  require  a  Senior  Wrangler  to  cal- 
culate the  arithmetical  chances  against  such  an 
event. 

My  flag  as  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  flew  for  a 
month  in  the  Impregnable,  that  ship  by  chance 
having  the  same  name  as  the  last  one  that  ever 
flew  an  Admiral  of  the  Fleet's  flag  for  more  than 
a  day. 

4  On  20th  March  1905  I  was  relieved  by  Vice- 
Admiral  Sir  Lewis  Beaumont,  and  went  on  half- 
pay,  as  I  supposed,  for  the  last  time. 


386 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 


ADMIRAL  OF  THE   FLEET 


Remarks  on  Title  and  Flag  of  Admiral  of  the  Fleet — ^With  H.R.H. 
Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught  to  Berlin — Trafalgar  Fete  at 
Boston — Southern  States — Go  with  Prince  Arthur  of 
Connaught  to  Japan. 

I  MUST  make  a  few  remarks  both  on  the  title  and 
on  the  flag  of  an  Admiral  of  the  Fleet — objecting 
as  I  do  to  both. 

As  regards  the  title,  it  is  not  significant  enough, 
being  too  like  the  title  *  Admiral  in  the  Fleet,' 
which  means,  the  next  lower  grade  of  Admiral. 
The  result  is,  as  I  know  well,  that  most  people 
neither  use,  nor  understand  it. 

What  would  be  thought  of  changing  the  title 
'  Field  Marshal '  to  *  General  of  the  Army  '  ?  What 
would  the  Field- Marshals  say  ?  When  the  title 
'  Admiral  of  the  Fleet '  was  instituted  about  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  there  was  to  be 
only  one  such  officer  at  the  same  time,  and  I 
believe  he  at  first  only  held  the  rank  and  title 
while  employed  on  full  pay. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
there  was  still  only  one  such  officer  at  one  time. 
The  increase  in  numbers  seems  to  have  taken  place 

387  2C2 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

in  the  nineteenth  century.  While  only  one  such 
officer  existed  the  title  no  doubt  had  a  meaning 
it  has  not  now.  I  may  just  remark  that  at  this 
moment  Admiral  Dewey,  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  holds  the  special  title  of  *  Admiral  of  the 
Navy,'  he  alone  having  it. 

In  May  1905  the  King  attached  me  to  the  suite 
of  H.R.H.  Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught  for  his 
mission  to  Berlin  to  be  present  at  the  wedding  of 
the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia.  We  were  there 
over  four  days,  and  the  ceremonies  were  as  well 
carried  out  as  German  thoroughness  would  make 
probable.  Whatever  I  may  think  of  the  ulterior 
aspirations  of  United  Germany,  I  have  the 
greatest  admiration  for  their  intelligence  and 
practical  organisation,  in  whatever  they  undertake. 

On  the  day  of  the  wedding  it  was  very  hot, 
and  we  were  in  levee  dress  for  about  seven  hours. 
The  Schloss  is  far  larger  than  Buckingham  Palace, 
and  on  this  day  about  1500  guests  dined  in  the 
Schloss,  of  course  in  different  rooms,  at  dinners 
as  well  served,  and  attended  on,  as  if  the  guests 
had  been  only  a  tenth  in  number. 

In  the  autumn  of  1905  a  community  in  Boston 
decided  to  celebrate  the  centenary  of  the  Battle 
of  Trafalgar — Captain  Mahan,  the  great  naval 
historian,  kindly  consenting  to  make  the  speech 
of  the  evening,  of  course,  on  Lord  Nelson  and  his 
career. 

It  was  wished  that  some  British  naval  officer 
should  represent  our  Navy  ;  and  being  asked  to 
do  so,  I  consented  for  the  sake  of  our  service. 

The  day  chosen  was,  of  course,  21st  October, 

388 


TRAFALGAR  CENTENARY   CELEBRATIONS 

when  about  2500  people  assembled  in  the  Tremont 
Temple  in  Boston.  Those  who  have  read  the 
illuminating  works  of  Mahan  can  imagine  how  he 
did  justice  to  his  subject.  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
staying  in  the  same  house  with  him,  and  found  him 
equally  interesting  as  a  companion  as  he  is  as  a 
writer. 

From  Boston  I  moved  south,  visiting  many 
places,  among  them  New  Orleans,  which  has  an 
old-time  charm.  It  is  the  most  straggling  city 
for  its  population  that  I  know.  It  lies  very  low, 
and  a  bund,  or  sea  wall,  is  necessary  to  protect 
it  from  the  Mississippi  River.  It  has  several  ceme- 
teries ;  the  two  oldest  are  dedicated  to  St.  Louis, 
and  the  inscriptions  on  the  tombs  are  nearly  all 
in  Spanish  or  French.  One  was  in  memory  of 
Dominique  You,  a  celebrated  pirate  who  seems  to 
have  died  in  his  bed  instead  of  his  boots. 

The  old  French  Creole  quarter  is  interesting, 
but  too  old-fashioned  as  to  hygienic  arrangements, 
and  as  regards  its  street  pavement. 

A  yellow  fever  epidemic  was  going  on,  and  I 
was  much  interested  to  hear  about  it.  The 
doctors  said  the  mosquito  is  what  takes  it  from 
a  patient  to  another  person,  and  that  only  in  that 
way  is  it  infectious.  Then  if  a  draught  of  air,  or 
low  temperature,  prevents  the  above  conduction, 
no  fear  of  infection  exists.  This  I  believe.  They 
said  that  in  a  week  (at  most)  you  could  be  sure  if  a 
patient  would  recover  or  die,  that  no  ill  after-effects 
are  usually  left  by  it,  and  that  a  young  person 
nearly  always  recovers,  but  that  a  patient  over 
fifty  usually  dies. 

389 


I\IY  NAVAL  CAREER 

From  New  Orleans  I  went  to  Atlanta,  the  capital 
of  Georgia,  where  old  inhabitants  told  me  that 
after  General  Sherman  burnt  it  on  his  march  to 
the  sea,  only  a  hundred  houses  or  so  remained. 
Now  it  is  a  very  fine  city. 

I  then  went  to  Charleston,  famous,  perhaps,  as 
the  scene  of  the  beginning  of  two  wars ;  now 
alas,  since  the  slave  days  much  decayed  like  other 
southern  places  are.  As  servants  I  heard  the 
negroes  mostly  praised. 

Intoxicating  drinks  are  not  legally  sold  here, 
but  if  you  name  them  in  your  hotel,  where  no 
wine  card  is  allowed,  they  appear.  If  thirsty  in 
the  streets  one  goes  into  shops  known  as  '  Blind 
Tigers,'  and  gets  a  dose  of  medicine  in  the  back 
parlour. 

I  must  not  prolong  my  account  of  the  United 
States,  but  whenever  I  have  been  there,  the  great 
kindness  I  have  met  with,  and  the  interesting 
people  and  places,  made  me  both  unwilling  to  quit 
the  country  then,  and  tempt  me  to  say  more  about 
it  now. 

I  returned  to  England  before  the  end  of  the 
year,  having  been  selected  by  the  King  to  join  the 
suite  of  H.R.H.  Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught  for 
his  mission  to  Japan,  to  invest  the  Mikado,  or 
Emperor,  with  the  Order  of  the  Garter. 

The  Prince's  suite  numbered  six ;  we  left 
London  on  nth  January  1906,  and  at  Marseilles 
embarked  in  the  P.  &  O.  steamship  Mongolia, 
arriving  at  Hong-Kong  in  twenty-eight  days. 

From  there  we  proceeded  in  H.M.S.  Diadem  to 
Yokohama,  where  we  arrived  on  19th  February 

390 


GARTER  MISSION   TO  THE  MIKADO 

and  went  by  train  to  Tokyo.  The  Emperor 
himself  came  to  the  station  there  to  receive  our 
Prince — a  very  extraordinary  honour  for  His 
Majesty  to  pay  to  anyone. 

The  reception  was  in  all  respects  very  striking, 
and  the  streets  were  crowded  with  people,  though 
it  was  very  cold,  and  snowing  at  times.  The 
Prince  and  his  suite  were  all  lodged  in  the  Kasumi- 
gaski  Palace,  a  very  fine  stone  building. 

Next  day  the  ceremony  of  investing  the 
Emperor  with  the  Order  of  the  Garter  took  place 
in  the  Emperor's  residential  palace.  It  was 
interesting  to  me  to  compare  the  whole  scene 
with  the  same  ordeal  at  Madrid  ;  the  surround- 
ings and  the  costumes  were  different,  but  the 
Japanese  lack  nothing  in  courtly  forms  and  state 
ceremonies,  and  certainly  never  in  courteous 
manners. 

We  were  nearly  a  month  in  Japan  ;  to  do 
justice  to  an  account  of  our  visit  there  would  not 
only  be  too  long  for  me  to  attempt,  but  is  far 
better  described  than  I  could  do  by  Lord  Redes- 
dale.  ^  I  will  only  relate  that  so  far  as  time 
allowed  we  travelled  to  the  most  interesting  places 
in  Japan,  and  so  far  as  possible  with  great  comfort, 
in  the  Emperor's  special  train. 

The  enthusiasm  of  our  Prince's  reception 
everywhere  we  went — though  often  in  very  cold 
or  very  wet  weather— was  quite  astonishing,  and 
almost   beyond  belief. 

People  were  often  drawn  up  at,  or  near,  the 
railway  stations  the  train  did  not  stop  at ;   where 

'  In  his  book  The  Garter  Mission  to  Japan  (Macmillan  &  Co.). 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

it  did  stop  addresses  of  welcome  were  given. 
When  we  arrived  at  a  town  and  left  the  station, 
the  streets  were  thickly  lined  with  spectators, 
all  most  orderly,  the  children  always  ranged 
along  in  the  front  rank,  and  each  child  holding 
in  one  hand  a  small  Japanese  flag,  and  in  the 
other  a  Union  Jack  ;  of  these  flags  we  must  have 
seen  many  thousands.  The  populace  bowed 
frequently  and  shouted  '  Banzai.'  *  Banzai,'  I 
believe,  means  '  ten  thousand/  i.e.  '  may  you 
live  very  long.'  The  more  official  naval  cheer  is 
'  Hoga,'  meaning  *  respectfully  saluting.' 

In  short,  I  can  only  say  that  had  the  British 
fought  on  the  side  of  Japan  and  saved  that 
nation  from  defeat,  our  Prince  could  not  have 
been   received  with   greater   enthusiasm. 

To  me,  perhaps,  our  most  interesting  visit 
was  to  see  the  Russian  prizes  at  Yokosuka  ;  the 
Nicholas  ist,  and  the  Admiral  Apraxin  were 
repaired  and  in  commission  with  new  names. 
But  some  of  the  others  were  as  brought  in  after 
the  action,  and  the  havoc  done  to  them  by  shot, 
shell  and  fire  was  almost  beyond  belief.  Wood 
splinters  in  action  do  much  damage  to  the  per- 
sonnel, but  I  suspect  that  the  steel  or  iron  ones 
are  much  the  same.  When  you  have  not  plating 
intended  to  be  protective,  I  think  that  the  slighter 
your  scantlings — except  for  constructive  strength 
— the  better. 

Admiral  Togo  accompanied  the  Prince  about 
everywhere.  A  more  modest  and  retiring  man 
than  the  Admiral  has  never  worn  a  naval  uniform  ; 
and  these  characteristics  he  particularly  showed 

392 


PRACTICAL   JOKE   AT  A   CHARITY   CONCERT 

during  the  Prince's  visit  to  the  captured  ships — 
so  much  so  that  it  was  impressive. 

I  was  very  much  in  Admiral  Togo's  company  ; 
though  he  was  a  boy  for  a  time  in  our  mercantile 
cadet  ship  the  Worcester  in  the  Thames,  he  con- 
versed wdth  difficulty  in  English.  I  am  told  he 
is  naturally  of  a  silent  disposition,  but  all  allow 
that  it  was  he  who  designed  and  carried  out  the 
naval  campaign.  His  face  in  repose  has  a  rather 
sad  expression. 

One  evening  while  at  Tokyo  a  slight  earth- 
quake shock  occurred,  but  so  little  as  to  be  merely 
interesting.  Earthquakes  are,  of  course,  very 
common  in  Japan  ;  this  shock  was  repeated  the 
next  morning,   more  severely. 

On  the  afternoon  of  that  day  a  charity  concert 
had  been  got  up  by  Lady  Macdonald,  the  wife  of 
our  Ambassador  (Sir  Claude),  and  a  rather  absurd 
joke  was  played,  by  whom  I  know  not.  When 
the  concert  was  about  half  over,  a  telegraphic 
message  arrived  to  say  that  an  earthquake  might 
be  expected  at  any  moment.  No  disturbance 
was  caused  in  the  audience,  but  as  the  message 
was  believed  by  the  management  who  received 
it,  our  Prince  was  quietly  requested  to  leave, 
followed  by  his  suite,  and  by  degrees  the  whole 
house  was  then  quickly  emptied,  but  no  earth- 
quake followed,  and,  as  I  understand,  such  things 
are  as  difficult  to  foretell  as  a  really  fine  day  in 
England. 

I  visited  the  military  hospital  and  saw  many 
wounded  men.  The  Japanese,  I  believe,  almost 
rival  the  Turks  in  their  endurance  of  pain.     I  saw 

393 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

one  soldier  who  had  lost  in  action  both  arms  and 
both  legs,  high  up.  Yet  strange  to  say  his  face 
and  body  looked  healthy,  and  what  I  believe  the 
doctors  call  '  well  nourished.' 

I  would  gladly  say  more  about  Japan,  but 
it  is  wiser  and  kinder  to  leave  my  readers  to  Lord 
Redesdale's  book  mentioned  already. 


394 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

ADMIRAL  OF   THE  FLEET   (continued) 

Leave  Japan — Cross  the  Pacific — Vancouver's  Island — Canada 
— Indians — Niagara — Quebec. 

On  i6th  March  we  left  in  the  Pacific  R.M.S.P. 
Empress  of  Japan  for  Vancouver's  Island,  quite 
sorry  to  part  with  our  Japanese  friends,  who  had 
left  nothing  undone  to  render  our  stay  delightful. 

On  leaving  I  see  that  with  other  remarks  in 
my  journal  I  said  :  '  The  courtesy,  self-command, 
quietude  of  manner,  and  general  refinement,  of 
the  Japanese,  surpass  those  of  any  other  nation 
I  know  of.'  These  expressions  are  pretty  strong  ; 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  being  \\ith  the 
Prince  we  mixed  in  the  best  society.  Ordinary 
'  globe  trotters  '  do  not  do  this. 

I  also  said :  *  It  is  not  easy  to  know  the 
Japanese,  they  are  retiring  in  manner,  and  not 
expansive  to  foreigners.'  In  short,  as  Rudyard 
Kipling  said,  *  But  East  is  East  and  West  is 
West,  the  twain  will  never  meet.' 

When  I  was  going  to  China  in  1897  I  said  to 
the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  :  '  It  seems  to  me 
not  to  matter  what  nation  we  go  to  war  with 

395 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

singly,  except  Japan  ;  because  she  is  about 
12,000  miles  off.'  Subsequent  history  has  not 
at  all  altered  my  views. 

The  Japanese  are  like  our  neighbours  across 
the  North  Sea,  in  that  they  know  what  they  mean 
and  want,  and  steadily  prepare  for  that.  '  Nee 
temere  nee  timide  '  might  well  be  their  motto. 
Japan's  army  in  1902  was,  I  believe,  the  bravest 
civilised  one  that  ever  took  the  field. 

Our  passage  across  the  Pacific  Ocean  to 
Vancouver's  Island  occupied  twelve  days — eleven 
only  by  the  calendar,  but  an  extra  one  occurred, 
called  *  Antipodes '  day,  when  we  crossed  the 
longitude  of  180°  as  we  were  moving  eastward. 
This,  of  course,  seemed  like  an  extra  day  gained  ; 
and  if  going  westward  passing  the  180°  would 
have  appeared  like  one  lost. 

I  believe  we  were  fortunate  in  our  weather ; 
this  passage  has  at  all  seasons  a  bad  weather 
reputation,  but  the  ships  of  the  company  are  fine 
steamers  and  well  managed. 

I  see  I  noted  her  as  the  most  comfortable 
mail  steamer  I  was  ever  in,  and  I  have  been  in 
several.  The  servants  are  all  Chinese,  and  none 
are  better  servants. 

Across  the  Pacific  Ocean  from  west  to  east 
there  is  a  set  called  the  Japan  current,  and  some- 
what comparable  to  the  Gulf  Stream  ;  bottles 
with  papers  in  them  to  test  the  ocean  drifts  are 
often  used,  especially  perhaps  on  this  passage 
just  now,  to  find  the  best  routes.  On  one  occasion 
such  a  bottle  was  found  on  the  coast  of  the  State 
of    Washington,    south    of    Vancouver's     Island, 

396 


ACROSS  CANADA 

ten  years  after  it  had  been  thrown  overboard 
off  the  south-east  part  of  Japan,  having  drifted 
across  the  Pacific  Ocean  for  a  distance  of  4300 
miles. 

At  the  end  of  March  we  arrived  at  Victoria, 
the  capital  of  British  Columbia,  but  situated  at 
the  south  end  of  Vancouver's  Island,  which 
country  is  about  half  the  size  of  Ireland. 

The  Prince  was  received  by  the  Governor, 
Sir  Henry  Joly  de  Lobiniere,  a  French  Canadian, 
and  a  perfect  specimen  of  a  kind  and  high-bred 
French  gentleman.  With  him  we  stayed  a  few 
daj's.  We  had  a  fishing  excursion  in  the  island, 
which  was  more  remarkable  for  the  constant 
rainfall  than  for  the  fish  caught — I  dare  say 
not  the  only  such  instance  ! 

From  Victoria  we  went  to  Vancouver  Town, 
and  thence  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway 
across  the  Rocky  Mountains.  As  everyone  knows, 
the  scenery  there  is  sublime  ;  we  viewed  it  partly 
from  a  seat  in  front  of  the  engine,  over  the  '  cow 
catcher  ' — a  plan  I  can  recommend. 

As  a  place  to  recover  the  health  of  a  thoroughly 
'  run-down  '  invalid,  commend  me  to  Banff,  and 
it  is  both  well  known  and  much  patronised. 

Our  train  for  the  Prince  was  a  special  one.  We 
lived  in  it  for  a  fortnight,  and  I  could  not  wish 
for  more  comfort  on  the  rails.  My  compartment 
had  a  private  bathroom. 

The  Prince  and  his  suite  were  the  guests  of 
the  Canadian  Government  during  his  visit  to 
that  country,  and  we  were  shown  all  that  could 
be  seen  in  three  or  four  weeks. 

397 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

Canada  is  so  well  known  now  that  I  will 
only  venture  on  one  or  two  remarks  about  it. 
Calgary  and  Edmonton  stand  out  most  to  my 
mind  as  new  and  very  crude,  but  rising  and 
promising,  places. 

Near  Gleichen  a  large  band  of  Indians  were 
assembled  to  greet  the  Prince,  and  to  show  off 
their  native  sports.  Some  of  their  names  sound 
to  us  ridiculous,  but  are  not  so  to  them.  Such 
are,  when  translated,  *  Dying  young  man,'  *  Bad 
dried  meat,'   *  Red  wolf,'   '  Running  rabbit,'   &c. 

The  Indians  struck  me  as  being  mostly  of  a 
yellowish  and  red  tint  ;  prominent  features, 
nose  and  lips  large,  hair  black — the  men  wear 
it  with  two  plaited  tails  in  front.  Both  sexes 
paint  the  face,  often  yellow  or  red.  Some  of  the 
young  women  are  nice  looking.  The  old  chief 
took  off  his  clothes  and  wished  to  exchange 
garments  with  the  Prince.  This  is,  I  believe,  the 
ne  plus  ultra  of  civility  and  friendship  ! 

Chinese  immigration  is  dreaded  in  British 
Columbia,  and  the  tax  for  a  Chinaman  coming  in 
was  then  £ioo. 

One  has  often  heard  that  large  families  were 
common  among  the  French-Canadians.  I  was 
assured  by  friends  that  they  knew  a  case  of  a 
man  who  has  seventeen  sons  by  one  mother, 
working  with  him.     An  instance  of — 

Where  children  are  blessings  and  he  who  has  most 
Has  aid  to  his  fortunes  and  riches  to  boast. 

as  the  old  colonial  song  said. 

At    Ottawa    we    stayed    at    the"  Government 
398 


TOUR  IN  CANADA  WITH  PRINCE  ARTHUR 

House,  as  guests  of  Lord  and  Lady  Grey,  who 
made  our  short  stay  with  them  very  agreeable. 
Here  with  much  regret  we  parted  from  our  gracious 
chief,  H.R.H.  Prince  Arthur,  who  was  to  remain 
rather  longer  in  Canada. 

Though  it  was  now  the  middle  of  April,  snow 
and  ice  were  still  about  in  plenty.  The  salubrity 
of  Canada  is  indisputable,  and  its  prosperit}" 
assured  ;  yet  as  a  country  to  colonise  in,  the  long 
and  severe  winter  appears  to  me  a  great  draw- 
back. Its  population  is  now  about  seven  and  a 
half  millions  ;  but  when  we  were  there  it  was  much 
less,  and  was  calculated  at  fewer  than  two  persons 
to  a  square  mile,  including  its  most  northern 
parts. 

We  then  visited  Montreal,  Toronto,  Niagara 
and  Quebec,  all  known  to  me  before. 

At  Niagara  we  were  shown  the  new  electric 
development  company's  works,  then  in  con- 
struction ;  they  divert  a  small  part  of  the  water 
just  above  the  falls,  on  the  Canadian  side,  into 
a  basin  having  eleven  shafts  down  which  the 
water  falls  for  i6o  feet  and  in  doing  so  turns  several 
turbines  placed  in  the  shafts,  and  the  collective 
power  of  each  of  the  eleven  is  expected  to  give 
15,000  horse-power. 

A  visit  to  Quebec  is  always  of  vivid  interest  ; 
when  there  on  this  occasion.  General  Sir  Thomas 
Kelly-Kenny  and  I  were  conducted  over  the  route 
of  Wolfe's  landing  and  ascending  the  cliff,  and 
the  scene  of  the  battle  on  the  plains  of  Abraham,  by 
Major  W.  Wood  of  the  Canadian  Militia,  whose 
excellent  work   '  The  Fight  for  Canada  '    I    can 

399 


MY   NAVAL  CAREEP 

strongly  recommend.      The  cliff  Wolfe  ascended 
was  about  a  hundred  feet  high. 

The  name  '  Plains  of  Abraham  '  is  not  taken 
from  the  Bible  patriarch,  but  from  Abraham 
Martin,  a  Frenchman  who  fed  his  sheep  there. 

I  should  like  to  dwell  and  enlarge  on  the  half 
pathetic,  half  romantic,  wholly  heroic,  close  of 
Wolfe's  career;  but  I  must  remind  myself  again 
that  this  is  not  history,  into  which,  being  of  course 
much  more  interesting  than  I  am,  I  can  hardly  resist 
digressing. 

I  like  to  think  the  legend  of  Wolfe's  repeating 
Gray's  '  Elegy '  in  the  boat  that  was  landing  him  is 
true  ;  the  poem  would  then  have  been  out  about 
eight  years. 

From  Quebec  we  went  to  Halifax,  and  there 
embarked  in  the  Allan  Line  steamship  Victorian 
for  England,  arriving  at  Liverpool  early  in  May. 

My  next  three  years  were  entirely  those  of 
private  life,  varied  by  occasional  travels  abroad, 
that  probably  would  not  interest  any  kind 
readers  I  may  have. 


400 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

H.M.S.   INFLEXIBLE  AND   NEW   YORK 

Hoist  Flag  in  Inflexible — Hudson-Fulton  Celebrations  at  New 
York — Processions  —  Banquets  —  West  Point  Academy — 
Return — Retirement. 

In  August  1909,  I  got  a  telegram  from  the 
Admiralty  saying  that  both  they,  and  the  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  hoped  I  would  go  out  to  New 
York,  with  my  flag  flying  in  command  of  a 
squadron,  to  join  with  other  foreign  ones  in  the 
coming  '  Hudson-Fulton  '  celebrations  there.  This 
function  was  not  actually  an  official  one  of  the 
United  States  Government,  but  was  instituted 
by  the  State  of  New  York  to  celebrate  the  ter- 
centenary of  Henry  Hudson's  discovery  of  the 
river  there,  which  is  named  after  him  ;  and  the 
almost  centenary  (really  102  years)  of  Robert 
Fulton's  launching  the  first  steamer  on  the  Hudson 
River. 

Immense  preparations  were  being  made  in 
New  York  for  this  commemorative  festival. 
Foreign  nations  were  invited  to  send  representatives 
and  ships  of  war ;  and  our  Government  was 
anxious  both  to  have  there  a  squadron    worthy 

401  2D 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

of  our  Navy,  and  an  officer  in  command  of  it 
higher  in  rank  than  any  other  one  present. 

I  accepted  the  appointment,  which,  besides 
its  special  and  historical  interests,  combined  my 
hoisting  my  flag  at  sea  as  Admiral  of  the  Fleet, 
with  the  Union  Jack  at  the  main,  which  had  not 
occurred  since  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Clarence 
(afterwards  King  William  IV)  did  so  in  1814,  to 
receive  the  allied  squadrons  at  Spithead,  on  the 
occasion  of  Napoleon's  going  to  Elba. 

It  will  be  understood  therefore  that  as  a  naval 
officer  only  the  appointment  had  an  intrinsic  value 
in  itself.  The  immediate  questions  were  my  staff 
and  my  flagship.  For  the  former  I  got  the 
officers  I  wanted,  viz.  Captain  Douglas  Nicholson, 
who  was  my  Flag-lieutenant  in  the  Channel 
Fleet,  Mr.  Alton  my  Secretary,  and  Commanders 
Powlett  and  Lowther  Crofton,  who  all  three  had 
been  with  me  in  China  in  1900. 

After  some  consideration  the  First  Lord  gave 
me  as  my  flagship  the  Inflexible,  a  new  first- 
class  cruiser,  one  of  our  three  newest  and  largest, 
and  really  the  most  powerful  class  of  cruiser  afloat 
anywhere — in  fact  the  sort  of  ship  worthy  to  fly 
the  flag  of  an  Admiral  of  the  Fleet.  Captain  H.  H. 
Torlesse,  an  able  officer  who  commanded  her,  con- 
tinued to  do  so. 

Arrangements  somewhat  unusual  had  to  be 
made  for  the  social  and  domestic  requirements  of 
such  a  service,  but  these  were  easily  got  over.  On 
i6th  September  I  hoisted  my  flag  in  the  Inflexible 
at  Portsmouth,  and  left  for  New  York. 

Circumstances  had  made  it  most  convenient 
402 


HUDSON-FULTON  CELEBRATIONS 

that  part  of  our  squadron,  viz.  the  Drake  (with  the 
flag  of  Rear- Admiral  F.  T.  Hamilton),  the  Duke 
of  Edinburgh  and  the  Argyll  should  precede  us  at  a 
slower  speed  to  the  anchorage  off  Sandy  Hook, 
where  we  arrived  early  on  the  24th. 

That  forenoon  we  weighed,  and  followed  by  our 
squadron  entered  the  Hudson  River  and  moored  off 
General  Grant's  tomb.  The  United  States  Fleet,  a 
powerful  collection  of  modern  ships,  under  the 
command  of  Rear-Admiral  S.  Schroeder,  were 
moored  the  highest  up  the  river. 

Next  to  them  came  our  squadron,  and  below  us 
the  remaining  foreign  ships  in  order  according  to 
the  seniority  of  their  commanders.  The  German 
squadron  was  commanded  by  Grand  Admiral  von 
Koester,  a  former  friend  [of  mine  at  Plymouth 
in  1904 ;  the  French  squadron  by  Admiral  Le 
Pord. 

New  York  was  en  fete  in  the  energetic  way 
worthy  of  the  sea  capital  of  the  United  States. 
The  population  of  that  city  including  its  suburbs 
was  said  to  be  just  over  four  millions,  and  I  was 
told  that  on  some  days  during  our  stay  two 
million  extra  visitors  were  in  the  town.  We  lay 
in  the  Hudson  River  for  a  fortnight,  the  days  being 
well  filled  up. 

I  will  not  attempt  an  account  of  all  the  feasts 
and  receptions  ashore  and  afloat,  but  only  mention 
some  of  them.  On,  I  may  say,  all  occasions  uniform 
of  different  degrees  was  worn  by  all  officers. 

On  the  25th  there  was  a  full-dress  reception  by 
Mr.  Sherman,  the  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  he  representing  Mr.  Taft,  the  President,  who 

403  2  D  2 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

was  unable  to  come  :  this  was  really  the  only 
national,  and  therefore  '  levee  dress  '  function. 

That  afternoon  the  river  procession  of  vessels 
took  place  to  escort  the  two  *  lions,'  viz.  the 
duplicate  of  the  Half  Moon,  and  that  of  the 
Clermont.  The  former  had  been  built  in  Holland, 
and  Captain  Colenbrander  of  the  Dutch  Navy 
assured  me  she  was  an  exact  copy  of  the  ship  Hud- 
son made  his  voyage  in.  She  was  68  feet  long,  and 
drew  nine  feet  of  water,  she  had  three  masts,  her  bow 
was  very  low,  and  her  poop  very  high,  but  narrow. 
There  was  only  three  feet  of  height  between  her 
decks.  The  Clermont  was  a  copy  of  Fulton's  ship, 
a  paddle-wheel  vessel  of  course,  but  steaming  very 
slowly. 

On  the  evening  of  the  27th  there  was  a  great 
reception  in  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  we, 
the  delegates,  being  ranged  along  the  front  of  the 
stage  like  actors.  The  house  holds  some  four 
thousand  people,  and  was  about  full. 

We  each  read  our  official  addresses  in  turn.  It 
was  my  first  experience  of  addressing  so  large  an 
audience,  but  I  was  told  that  they  could  hear  me 
at  the  back  part. 

To  give  some  idea  of  how  any  spare  time  was 
spent  in  visits,  I  may  mention  that  this  day  we 
travelled  fifty-five  miles  by  river  and  land  at 
New  York  to  pay  visits. 

On  the  28th  we  had  a  great  lunch  at  a  round 
table  quite  twenty  feet  across— things  are  mostly 
big  in   the  United  States  ! 

In  the  afternoon  we  witnessed  the  great 
historical  pageant,  \dz.  a  procession  in  the  Fifth 

404 


HISTORICAL  PAGEANTS 

Avenue  of  people  and  of  cars  carrying  figures  and 
models  designed  to  show  the  phases  and  fashions 
of  life  and  the  chief  events  in  North  America  from 
bygone  times.  It  took  about  three  hours  to 
pass  by. 

On  the  29th  we  visited  the  West  Point  Military 
Academy,  which  holds  over  500  cadets.  They 
were  reviewed  for  us,  dressed  in  the  picturesque 
uniform  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  They  were  a 
fme  set  of  young  men,  and  no  expense  is  spared 
to  make  the  academy  perfect. 

That  evening  we  dined  at  an  official  banquet  in 
the  Hotel  Astor.  The  dinner  lasted  six  hours ; 
from  7.30  to  1.30  we  were  at  table.  Two  thousand 
two  hundred  guests  sat  down,  all  men,  at  round 
tables  each  holding  about  eight  to  ten  persons. 
The  galleries  round  were  filled  with  ladies.  When 
one  had  to  speak  one  was  led  up  to  a  special  pulpit 
or  rostrum,  which  was  required  in  so  large  a  place. 

On  the  30th  there  was  another  great  procession 
in  the  Fifth  Avenue,  when  about  25,000  men  of 
various  nations  passed,  both  civil,  naval,  and 
military. 

The  foreign  ships  present  were  invited  to  land 
contingents  of  their  crews  with  their  arms,  and 
of  course  did  so.  There  were  of  course  more 
Americans  by  far  than  any  other  nation,  and  the 
procession  lasted  about  three  hours. 

On  5th  September  the  St.  George's,  and  other 
British  societies — English,  Scotch  and  Welsh  (not 
Irish) — gave  us  a  great  dinner  of  about  500  people 
at  the  Waldorf  Astoria.  Much  friendliness  was 
expressed. 

405 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

On  the  6th  we  lunched  with  Mr.  Pierpont 
Morgan,  who  showed  us  his  wonderful  library  and 
collection  of  manuscripts. 

On  the  7th  we  were  entertained  at  a  great 
dinner  at  the  Waldorf  Astoria  Hotel  by  the 
German  community  of  New  York,  at  which  Grand 
Admiral  von  Koester  was,  of  course,  the  principal 
guest.     Much  good  feeling  and  cordiality  prevailed. 

On  the  8th  I  had  a  trip  out  on  an  express  train 
electric  engine  ;  and  back  on  a  steam  one,  doing 
the  mile  in  forty-three  seconds  !  The  journey  to 
Chicago  of  960  miles  is  done  in  18  hours,  at  53  miles 
an  hour.  The  American  mode  of  fixing  the  rails 
on  the  sleepers  never  to  me  looks  as  good  as  our 
'  chairs,'  but  it  seems  to  answer  :  the  rails  are 
heavy  loo-lb.  ones.  Their  engines  are  larger 
than  ours ;  the  biggest  with  its  tender  loaded  weighs 
close  on  200  tons. 

On  9th  October  we  left  for  England,  having  had 
what  is  called  a  *  strenuous/  but  very  interesting, 
time  at  New  York. 

Such  national  representative  congregations 
must,  if  the  participants  are  sensible  men,  conduce 
to  friendliness  between  their  countries  :  and  no 
people  are  better  hosts  than  our  American  cousins. 

Among  my  many  kind  entertainers  whom  I 
should  like  to  name,  I  must  mention  one,  viz.  Mr. 
R.  A.  C.  Smith  of  100  Broadway,  New  York,  who 
had  special  charge  of  myself  and  m\'  staff,  and 
whose  kindness  and  attention  left  us  nothing  to 
wish  for. 

On  our  passages  both  out  and  home  we  en- 
countered just  enough  bad  weather  to  form  some 

406 


PLACED  ON  THE  RETIRED  LIST 

judgment  of  the  ship's  performance  in  a  sea  way. 
As  a  splendid  modern  '  sea-girt  citadel  '  no  cruisers 
surpass  her,  but  owing  to  her  great  steadiness, 
which  is,  of  course,  valuable  as  a  gun  platform,  the 
sea  soon  sweeps  over  her  upper  deck. 

On  19th  October  we  arrived  at  Portsmouth, 
and  I  obeyed  my  last  order  from  the  Admiralty, 
which  according  to  the  old  formula  is  to  '  strike 
your  flag,  and  come  on  shore  ' — and  while  doing 
so  I  felt  a  pride,  I  think  pardonable  in  a  naval 
officer,  of  having  served  at  sea  as  an  Admiral  of 
the  Fleet. 

On  30th  April  1910  I  became  seventy  years  of 
age,  and  so,  in  compliance  with  the  very  excellent 
rule  of  the  Navy,  I  was  placed  on  the  retired  list. 

Human  nature  is  often  weak,  and  so  we  may 
even  regret  what  we  have  both  expected  to  occur, 
and  believe  to  be  proper.  Retirement  from  a 
career  is  professional  euthanasia ;  yet — especially 
if  Dame  Fortune  has  kindly  wafted  us  successfully 
over  the  billows  of  our  active  existence  to  the 
haven  of  retreat — I  think  the  pilgrim  of  life  should 
then  comfort  himself  by  taking  the  same  view  of 
his  present  condition,  as  did  the  great  Francis 
Bacon  of  the  canticle  '  Nunc  Dimittis* 


407 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

ENVOI 

China  and  Japan — Importance  of  our  Navy — Steamships — 
Armourclads — Turret  Ships — Navy  in  1844 — Naval  Changes — 
Knowledge  required — Engineers — Modern  Personnel — Marines 
— Navy's  Duties — Coastguard — Size  of  Ships — Conclusion. 

I  WISH  to  add  to  my  personal  memoirs  a  few 
remarks  on  China,  a  part  of  the  world  of  much 
interest  to  me,  and  also  to  the  profession  in 
which  my  life  has  been  mostly  passed.  As 
regards  the  first  the  Far  Eastern  question  is  quite 
unlike  any  other  in  the  world,  especially  since  the 
late  wonderful  rise  of  Japan  to  be  a  first-class  power. 

Japan  seems  to  be  in  the  happy  condition 
that  nothing  but  a  combination  of  nations  can 
harm  her,  and  at  least  for  the  present  I  see  no 
prospect  of  any  such  alliance  against  her,  if  only 
because  very  great  mistrust  of  each  other  is  now 
prevalent  in  the  happy  family  of  Europe. 

The  position  of  Japan  merely  geographically 
speaking  as  regards  Asia  is  like  ours  towards 
Europe,  and  possibly  a  parallel  may  be  drawn 
between  our  once  actual  possession  of  (and  for 
long  our  advanced  claim  to)  certain  provinces  in 
Europe,   and  Japan's  occupation   of   Corea,   but 

408 


THE  FAR  EASTERN  QUESTION 

all  through  such  similes  runs  the  one  pregnant 
fact  that  whereas  we  were  always  in  presence 
of  other  warlike  nations,  Japan's  only  real  neigh- 
bour is  the  unmilitary  empire  of  China.  Thus 
the  position  of  Japan  is  really  a  very  enviable  one. 

As  regards  China,  no  greater  evidence  of  her 
ultra-conservative  immutability  seems  required 
than  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  all  her  lessons  of 
humiliation  by  encroaching  enemies,  and  still 
more  by  the  military  triumphs  of  her  once  despised 
neighbour  Japan,  she  yet  hesitates  to  provide 
herself  with  the  only  real  protection  for  a  nation, 
in  spite  of  Hague  Conferences,  and  arbitration 
treaties,  viz.  a  powerful  army,  and  a  sufficient 
navy  according  to  her  needs. 

That  China  is  slowly  awakening  I  believe,  and 
understand  that  she  has  now  over  one  hundred 
thousand  troops  by  way  of  being  properly 
trained  and  armed,  also  I  fully  expect  to  see  this 
number  rapidly  increasing,  but  several  years 
must  elapse  before  she  can  defy  either  of  her 
eastern  rivals  to  encroach  on  her  dominions. 

As  I  observed  on  p.  342,  it  is  China  really 
who  has  been  wronged  by  the  forced  intrusion 
of  alien  nations,  among  whom  England's  share  is 
by  no  means  the  smallest.  The  more  one  reads 
and  knows  about  China,  the  more  one  sees  and 
understands  why  the  Chinese  both  call  and  re- 
gard us  all  as  *  foreign  devils '  ;  which  I  do  not 
wonder  at,  China  herself  being  the  least  aggres- 
sive nation  that  I  know  of. 

That  a  powerful  China  would  be  a  danger  or 
a  menace  to  the  western  world  I  do  not  believe. 

409 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

She  would  be  a  rival  to  Japan,  and  might  thus  help 
by  the  balance  of  power  in  the  Far  East  to  promote 
peace  in  those  regions. 

Her  feeling  towards  Japan  is,  at  least  now,  not 
one  of  special  affection,  and  the  '  yellow  peril  '  is 
I  believe  a  bogey  yet  very  far  distant. 

John  Chinaman  is  a  born  trader,  and  on  the 
whole  a  honest  one  :  he  likes  a  good  bargain  of 
course — who  does  not? — but  when  the  deal  is 
arranged,  he  will  keep  to  it. 

I  do  not  say  it  is  beyond  the  power,  or  the 
mistaken  diplomacy,  of  one  or  more  of  the  western 
nations  to  cause  the  people  of  both  the  Middle 
Kingdom  and  of  the  country  of  the  Rising  Sun 
to  combine  against  them,  but  I  think  it  is  quite 
uncalled  for,  and  I  am  sure  it  is  very  undesirable. 
When  the  principal  years  of  one's  life  have  been 
spent  in  a  profession,  it  follows  that  one  has  both 
well  considered  that  calling,  and  formed  what  are 
matured  opinions  about  it.  The  above  is  my  case, 
and  I  therefore  wish  to  offer  to  my  readers  the 
following  few  remarks. 

The  vital  importance  of  our  Navy  to  England 
is  in  no  way  exaggerated  by  the  well-known 
official  preface  to  the  Naval  Articles  of  War, 
declaring  it  to  be  that  on  which,  '  under  the  good 
Providence  of  God,  the  wealth,  safety  and  strength 
of  the  kingdom  chiefly  depend.' 

This,  which  could,  perhaps,  only  be  an  actual 
truism  of  an  island  nation,  became  enhanced  by 
our  acquisition  of  possessions  across  the  seas,  and 
was  completed  by  the  increase  of  our  population, 
necessitating  a  foreign  food  supply. 

410 


STEAMSHIPS   VERSUS    SAILING-SHIPS 

It  is  not,  I  think,  unreasonabletosay  that  tons, 
insular  as  we  are,  a  strong  Navy  is  but  a  defensive 
weapon,  and  may  be  claimed  as  such  ;  whereas 
when  one  is  earnestly  worked  for,  and  achieved,  by 
a  Continental  Power,  the  intention  of  aggression 
seems  to  underlie  the  design. 

I  think  history  shows  that  the  increase  and 
reduction  of  our  Navy  have  synchronised  with 
those  of  the  chief  Continental  maritime  powers  ; 
in  the  former  case  following  rather  than  preceding 
them. 

The  propulsion  of  ships  of  war  by  steam  was  a 
comparative  drawback  to  our  Navy,  because  during 
the  last  century  there  is  not  a  doubt  that,  on  the 
whole,  we  had  more  skilful  seamen  than  other 
nations  possessed. 

And  though  '  seamanship  '  of  all  kinds  must 
be  an  art  to  be  acquired  by  careful  observation 
and  long  experience,  yet  the  handling  of  a 
steamer  can  never  need  the  practised  eye  and 
skilful,  almost  sympathetic,  direction  of  the  true 
sailor,  who  has  been  trained  in  shijis  under  canvas 
only. 

As  in  many  other  things,  our  neighbours  the 
French  were  the  pioneers  of  ironclad  ships.  It 
is  true  that  floating  batteries  had  existed  before, 
and  been  used  on  various  occasions  ;  but  La  Gloirc, 
launched  in  i860,  was,  I  consider,  the  first  real 
armoured  ship  afloat. 

In  the  early  years  of  '  ironclads  '  then  so  called, 
the  French  were  more  addicted  to  ships  of  the 
same  type  than  we  were.  Our  idea  seemed  more 
to    devise    various   sorts   of    protected   ships,    as 

411 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

experiments,  thereby  showing  we  were  still  quite 
uncertain  which  was  the  best  type. 

For  example,  in  the  Mediterranean  Fleet  for 
some  years  in  the  'eighties,  we  had  not  two  ironclad 
ships  out  there  of  a  similar  class.  Sails  died 
hard ;  perhaps  turrets  may  be  said  to  have  had 
the  immediate  hand  in  their  abolition. 

The  ill-fated  Captain  was  the  first  ship  actually 
built  to  carry  out  the  designs  of  the  clever  and 
enthusiastic  Cooper  Coles,  and  to  conform  likewise 
to  the  then  desire  to  have  a  turret  ship  that  could 
sail  also  ;  and  this  object,  up  to  her  most  tragic 
loss  in  1870,  her  designer  believed  to  be  more  or 
less  accomplished. 

It  was  soon  very  evident  that  the  heavily 
armoured  ships,  however  rigged,  could  not  sail  as 
ships  had  formerly  done  ;  and  this  became  more 
evident  not  only  as  the  armour  increased  in  weight, 
but  after  the  introduction  of  twin  screws. 

Indeed,  as  concerns  these  last,  the  Alexandra, 
completed  in  1877,  had  two  sets  of  small  engines, 
on  purpose  to  turn  her  twin  screws  as  required, 
when  she  was  under  sail  and  her  main  engines  were 
disconnected  from  her  propellers.  The  Devasta- 
tion, designed  in  1869,  was  our  first  mastless  sea- 
going ship. 

Twin  screws  once  introduced  were  continued, 
and  their  necessity  not  only  for  handiness,  but 
for  safety  in  unrigged  ships,  insured  their  general 
adoption. 

The  broadside  armed  ironclad  slid  gradually 
into  the  central  box  citadel ;  till  the  desire  to 
mount  heavier  guns,  and  because  they  must  be 

412 


PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NAVY 

fewer  in  number  to  gain  for  them  a  larger  arc  of 
fire,  was  probably  what  caused  the  invention  of 
the  turret  system,  which  is  the  undoubted 
parent  of  what  now  prevails  in  all  '  capital  ships/ 
or  powerful  cruisers,  whether  as  barbette  or 
turret. 

It  is  perhaps  curious  to  reflect  how  the  ancient 
ram  was  revived  in  our  days,  but  is  now  fast 
disappearing  after  a  career  in  which  it  may 
almost  be  said  only  to  have  sunk  its  friends  ; 
and  with  its  abolition,  we  are  again  placing  less 
comparative  value  on  fore  and  aft  fire. 

The  Whitehead  torpedo-tubes  have  except  in 
very  small  ships  disappeared  below  the  water  line, 
but  there  as  submerged  ones  they  continue  to  be 
valued. 

As  regards  the  personnel  of  the  Navy,  it  may  be 
interesting  to  note  that  in  1844,  though  the  list 
of  flag-offtcers  was  numerically  large,  out  of  211 
(active  and  retired)  admirals  on  the  list  only 
twenty-five  rear-admirals  were  under  sixty-five 
years  of  age,  and  only  fifteen  under  sixty.  Also 
that  at  that  date  we  had  only  one  line-of-battle 
ship  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  it  was  with  some 
difficulty,  and  after  consulting  the  French  Foreign 
Ofhce,  that  the  Admiralty  obtained  Lord 
Aberdeen's  sanction  that  the  flagship  of  the 
Commander-in-Chief  on  the  above  station  should 
be  a  three-  instead  of  a  two-decked  ship. 

I  think  it  is  no  matter  of  fancy  to  say  that  a 
naval  officer  is  supposed  to  know  more  tlian  it  is 
possible  for  him  to  know.  He  must  be  first  a 
seaman  and  a  navigator,  then  very  much  of  an 

413 


MY   NAVAL   CAREER 

artillerist  and  an  infantry  soldier,  to  which  he 
should  add  a  knowledge  of  naval  construction, 
electricity  as  applied  to  all  ship's  uses,  and  the  tele- 
graph ;  of  torpedoes,  both  motive  and  stationary  ; 
of  all  forms  of  signalling  ;  of  international  law 
and  of  foreign  tongues,  at  least  French,  being  that 
of  diplomacy :  to  these  add,  an  engineer's 
proficiency. 

To  make  a  humorous  comparison  let  me 
remind  my  readers  of  *  Rasselas,'  by  Dr.  Johnson, 
and  how,  when  Imlac  was  extolling  the  knowledge 
required  to  be  a  real  poet,  the  Prince  replied  to 
him  :  '  Thou  hast  convinced  me  that  no  human 
being  can  ever  be  a  poet.'  One  might  say  so  of  a 
naval  officer,  if  a  really  complete  knowledge  of  all 
branches  of  his  profession  was  necessary. 

To  say  that  the  personnel  of  the  Navy  has 
altered  as  much  as  the  materiel  since  I  entered 
the  service  would,  of  course,  be  untrue,  because, 
as  regards  the  latter,  one  may  assert  that  the 
change  from  the  war  galleys  of  Mark  Antony  at 
Actium  to  the  sailing  line-of-battle  ships  in  the 
Black  Sea. in  1854,  was  not  greater  than  from  the 
latter  to  a  Dreadnought  or  a  submarine  boat. 

As  regards  the  mere  numbers  of  officers  on  the 
Navy  List ;  since  the  age-retirement  scheme  did  not 
exist  in  1852,  the  lists  of  officers  on  the  active 
list  then  and  now  cannot  well  be  compared, 
but  we  may  compare  the  number  of  men.  In 
1852  the  Navy  vote  taken  was  for  34,029  seamen 
and  marines  against  115,691  now,  and  the  Navy 
estimates  then  were  £5,494,888  against  £44,392,500 
now. 

414 


SPECLAI.ISTS    L\    THE   NAVY 

The  age-retirement  scheme  of  Mr.  Childers  I 
have  mentioned  previously,  and  given  my  humble 
judgment  in  its  favour.  Besides  it,  the  chief 
change  yet  completely  carried  out,  and  affecting 
executive  officers,  is  the  abolition  of  the  special 
navigating  branch  of  the  Navy. 

This  when  proposed  was,  I  may  say,  mostly 
objected  to  by  the  older  officers  of  the  service  ; 
but  is  now  I  am  sure  very  generally  approved. 
The  other  great  change,  and  still  in  progress,  is  the 
abolition  of  the  engineer  branch  of  our  profession. 

I  have  so  great  an  opinion  of  the  soundness  and 
vitality  of  the  Navy  that  I  believe  it  would 
survive  nearly  everything  except  its  actual  extinc- 
tion, but  as  regards  the  above  change  at  present  in 
progress  I  think  as  follows. 

The  very  varied  knowledge  now  required  of  a 
naval  officer  makes  the  present  time  one  essen- 
tially for  specialists,  and  certainly  as  engineeisfor 
that  branch  of  the  service — the  multiplication 
and  various  sorts  of  machinery  rendering  this  far 
more  necessary  than  it  was  formerly. 

It  may  naturally  be  remarked  that  in  the 
pre-steam  days  all  executive  officers  were  supposed 
to  be  experts  in  whatever  concerned  the  locomotion 
of  their  ship,  and  that  they  should  if  possible 
be  so  now.  The  first  part  would  be  true,  and  the 
second  part  desirable,  but  except  for  partial 
efficiency  as  an  engineer  it  cannot,  I  think,  be 
achieved. 

The  naval  engineers  have  served  us  right  well, 
as  a  special  class  ;  the  time  may  have  arrived  for 
their  extinction  as  such,  but  if  so  their  place  and 

415 


MY   NAVAL  CAREER 

prospects  for  the  future  should,  I  beUeve,  be  the 
following. 

1.  The  selection  and  higher  training  of  volun- 
teers from  the  executive  branch,  who,  without  being 
thoroughly  trained  practical  engineers,  would  yet 
be  able  to  occupy  the  higher  positions  as  such, 
both  afloat  and  in  our  dockyards. 

2.  Besides  the  above,  to  have  thoroughly 
practical  engineers,  entered  probably  as  is  now 
done  with  boy  artificers,  and  occupying  virtually 
much  the  same  position  as  was  occupied  by  naval 
engineers  when  steamships  were  begun  in  our 
service. 

Of  course  those  officers  diverted  to  the  first 
of  the  above  categories  must  give  up  all  idea  of 
commanding  ships,  or  fleets  ;  and  their  separation 
from  such  ambitions  should  take  place,  at  the 
latest,  when  they  become  commanders,  better  still 
as  lieutenants.  As  regards  the  entry  of  naval 
cadets,  the  present  regulations  seem  to  me  very 
good.  I  am  sure  that  sailors  should  be  '  caught ' 
young ;  the  sea  is  a  profession  to  be  as  far  as  is 
possible  bred  to,  or  its  discomforts,  and  still  more 
the  confinement  of  life  on  board  ship,  are  very 
distasteful. 

For  these  reasons  the  actual  embarkation  as 
young  boys  had  its  advantages,  but  the  high 
standard  of  education  now  necessary  makes  their 
remaining  for  a  few  years  at  naval  schools, 
which  Osborne  and  Dartmodth  actually  are, 
indispensable. 

It  is  a  delicate  matter  to  say  much  about  the 
comparative  efficiency  of  officers   and   men   now 

416 


SEAMEN— MARINES 

and  when  I  went  to  sea,  so  my  remarks  about  tliis 
shall  be  few.  Both  officers  and  men  are,  of  course, 
as  befits  present  times  far  more  generally  educated, 
and  I  might  add  intelligent,  than  formerly. 

As  regards  the  officers  I  consider  them  more 
universally  zealous — and  in  spite  of  what  Talley- 
rand said  to  a  diplomatist  about  zeal,  a  navy 
is  nothing  without  it. 

Comparisons  are  usually  hazardous,  often 
objectionable,  yet  I  am  going  to  make  one  between 
our  two  defensive  services  ;  it  is  this  :  In  the  Navy 
the  officers  are  as  a  rule  poorer  men  than  in  the 
Army,  and  enter  their  profession  more  with  the 
intention  of  making  it  their  home  and  life-career 
than  soldiers  do  ;  and  therefore  I  believe  throw 
their  hearts  more  universally  into  their  work. 

As  regards  the  men,  I  doubt  their  physique 
being  on  the  average  as  line  as  it  was  formerly,  but 
probably  this  can  neither  be  proved  nor  dis- 
proved. If  the  former  I  do  not  lay  it  down  to  the 
loss  of  the  work  aloft,  because  I  feel  sure  that  the 
regular  calisthcnic  exercises  now  practised  on 
board  our  ships  are  far  superior  for  the  develop- 
ment of  muscle.  Our  men  arc  certainly  far  more 
sober,  and  better  behaved  when  on  leave  ;  and 
we  have  no  difficulty  in  recruiting  for  the  service. 

I  cannot  end  my  few  remarks  without  alluding 
to  that  splendid  corps,  the  Royal  Marines,  both 
Artillery  and  Light  Infantry.  Their  history  since 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  may  be  said 
to  be  part  of  the  history  of  the  Navy,  and  their 
general  loyalty  to  the  officers  has  been,  at  certain 
times  of  trouble,  equally  creditable  and  eflicient. 

417  2  B 


MY  NAVAL   CAREER 

The  Royal  Marine  Artillery  emanated  early  last 
century  from  the  request  for  a  body  of  the  Royal 
Artillery  being  lent  to  certain  ships  to  teach  the 
seamen  gunnery.  Till  long  after  those  days  no 
naval  gunnery  school  existed  ;  but  the  seamen 
certainly  require  now  no  outside  assistance  in  that 
respect. 

There  are  naval  officers  who  are  in  favour  of 
doing  away  with  the  marines,  at  least  as  embarked 
in  ships,  and  I  believe  the  United  States  Navy  is 
the  only  large  one  besides  our  own  in  which 
marines  now  go  afloat.  I  am  not  of  the  above 
opinion,  but  I  should  gradually  let  one  part  of  the 
corps  die  out,  and  keep  the  other  at  least  as 
numerous  as  both  were  a  short  time  ago,  all  being 
under  one  denomination.  It  matters,  I  think,  little 
if  they  are  called  artillery  or  light  infantry,  but  I 
should  favour  the  latter  with  extra  pay  for  gunnery 
qualifications  that  might  advance  to  the  actual 
pay  of  the  present  Marine  Artillery. 

The  reduction  of  the  Marine  Corps  in  numbers 
is,  I  think,  a  mistake.  Their  proportion  to  that  of 
the  seamen  voted,  when  I  entered  the  service,  was 
then  very  much  larger  than  it  is  now.  I  would  not 
propose  to  restore  that  proportion,  but  I  should 
keep  the  total  numbers  at  what  they  were  a  few 
years  ago,  before  their  reduction  commenced. 

The  immediate  duties  of  the  Navy  now  are 
very  different  from  what  they  were  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century  even,  but  the  reasons  hardly 
require  explanation. 

When  I  entered  the  Navy  certainly  not  more 
than  one-third  of  our  serxace  afloat  was  in  home 

418 


COASTGUARD— NOMENCLATURE  OF   SHIPS 

waters,  the  rest  being  on  foreign  stations ;  now  this 
is  more  than  reversed,  probably  three-quarters  of 
our  force  being  in  or  near  England. 

In  Chapter  XXVI  I  have  referred  to  the  Coast- 
guard, and  I  am  entirely  against  their  reduction  in 
numbers.  Besides  their  present  important  duties 
which  Tariff  Reform  (if  passed)  would  greatly 
augment  as  regards  contraband  goods,  they  are 
a  very  good  recruiting  body,  and  help  to  popu- 
larise the  Navy,  both  as  being  \'isible  to  the  shore 
population,  and  as  a  position  to  be  looked  forward 
to  in  the  last  years  of  their  service  by  the  men 
themselves  :  and  they  are  a  most  trustworthy 
reserve. 

Another  and  most  important  subject  is  that  of 
the  classes  and  sizes  of  our  ships.  Dreadnotights, 
so  called,  are  at  the  moment  the  most  powerful 
type  of  fighting  ship  ;  yet  many  will  agree  with  me 
that  their  origin  was  for  us  an  evil,  though  had 
others  begun  them,  we  ought,  of  course,  to  have 
followed  suit. 

The  nomenclature  of  classes  of  ships  has 
entirely  changed.  I  object  to  the  term  '  battleshij) ' 
as  being  not  distinctive  ;  all  ships  meant  to  fight 
are  battleships.  I  would  restore  the  old  term 
*  line-of-battle  ship,'  or  '  shi]-)S  of  the  line,'  or 
perhaps  say  '  capital  ship.' 

For  the  rest  all  real  ships  are  called  cruisers  of 
classes.     I  may  also  remark  that  the  exact  line  of 
demarcation    between    a  '  battleship  '   (so  calh^d) 
and  a  first-class  cruiser  is  very  hard  to  draw.     The  - 
above  remarks  apply  to  '  class.' 

As    regards    size,    I    think    as    follows.     For 

419  2Ea 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

merchant  ships  no  general  rule  can  or  need  exist. 
The  transatlantic  liners  tliat  ply  chiefly  between 
Europe  and  the  United  States — probably  to  New 
York — may  be  of  any  size,  so  long  as  they  can 
enter  and  leave  the  two  required  ports  ;  but  for 
men-of-war  the  question  is  a  far  more  involved 
one.  When  out  at  sea  I  will  concede  that,  other 
things  being  equal,  the  larger  ship  compared  with 
the  smaller  one  may,  and  should  be,  the  more 
powerful  of  the  two  ;  but  that  by  no  means,  in 
my  opinion,  exhausts  the  question. 

The  objections  to  the  constant  increase  of  the 
size  of  men-of-war  seem  to  me  to  be — 

1.  In  view  of  torpedoes  and  submarine  mines, 
it  puts  too  many  eggs  into  one  basket,  and  the 
great  increase  of  the  range  and  accuracy  of  White- 
head torpedoes  makes  their  danger  greater. 

2.  The  docks  able  to  take  the  largest  ships  in 
are  few,  especially  if  from  injury  the  ship  is  drawing 
an  extra  draft  of  water. 

3.  You  cannot  tell  what  harbours  you  may 
require  the  ship  to  enter,  and  here,  both  as  to 
depth  of  water  and  turning  space,  difficulty 
comes  in. 

4.  Mishaps  through  grounding  may  occur, 
and  certainly  the  larger  the  ship  the  more  difficult 
she  will  be  to  salve. 

The  above  are  my  principal  arguments  against 
the  constant  increase  in  the  size  of  our  men-of-war. 
I  presume  I  need  hardly  say  that  I  should  have  a 
greater  number  of  the  smaller  class  of  ship,  each 
carrying  guns,  fewer  but  of  the  same  type,  as  those 
carried  by  their  larger  sisters. 

420 


OUR  NATURAL  ADVANTAGES  IN  A  NAVAL  WAR 

Finally,  I  will  again  refer  to  the  Navy  vote 
and  estimates  quoted  on  p.  412,  by  which  it  will 
be  seen  that  as  regards  the  numbers  of  seamen  and 
marines  voted,  there  are  now  exactly  3*4  times 
as  many  as  when  I  entered  the  service,  or  say 
nearly  three  and  a  half  times  the  former  numbers. 
And  that  as  regards  the  cost  of  our  Navy,  our 
estimates  are  now  eight  times  what  they  were 
about  sixty  years  ago. 

Could  [anyone  then  have  foretold  the  above 
stupendous  increases  ?  and  what  may  we  expect 
in  the  future  ?  Nobody  knows — but  this  I  think  : 
*  Beggar  my  neighbour  '  is  a  very  nice  game  of 
cards  for  children,  but  when  played  (with  ships) 
between  first-class  Powers,  it  is  certainly  costly, 
probably  very  risky  !  Games  usually  end  by  one 
side  winning,  occasionally  by  their  being  drawn  ; 
which  last  may  have  its  advantages,  even  with 
nations  ! 

Certainly  our  insular  and  geographical  position 
is  admirable  for  a  naval  war.  On  one  side  we 
have  the  open  ocean,  and  an  extent  of  coast  line 
that,  in  the  face  of  our  Navy,  the  fleets  of  the  whole 
world  could  not  successfully  blockade  ;  on  the 
other  side  we  are  placed  so  near  to  foreign  ports, 
that  the  sea-borne  commerce  to  and  from  such 
harbours  must  in  war  time  run  the  greatest  risk 
of  capture  by  us. 

Nature  has  thus  assisted  us  so  far  that  only 
ingratitude  and  downright  stu])idity  could  pre- 
vent our  availing  ourselves  to  the  utmost  of  her 
gifts  :  that  is  to  conmiand  the  sea  for  our  own 
benefit,   and  to   the  destruction  of    our  enemy's 

421 


MY  NAVAL  CAREER 

sea-borne  commerce.  In  our  past  history  we 
have  done  so,  and  the  result  has  justified  the 
efforts. 

History  should  inspire  as  well  as  teach,  and  if 
so  we  do  not  lack  for  inspiration,  but  I  trust  we 
shall  long  be  able  to  quote  what  was  written  and 
true  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  is  true  now, 
viz. — 

*  Surely  at  this  day  with  us  of  Europe  the 
vantage  of  strength  at  sea  (which  is  one  of  the 
principal  dowries  of  this  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain)  is  great.' 


422 


INDEX 


Abbe  Thule,  103,  105 

Abergavenny.  2S5 

Acapidco,  287 

ActcEon,  59 

Active,  284 

Admiral  Apraxin,  392 

Agamemnon,  11,  25 

Agiiinaldo,  321 

Aitkin,  137 

At  ax,  3 

Alacrity,  320,  369 

Alccster,  Lord.  228 

Alexander  I,  the  Emperor,  267 

Alexander  II,  the  Emperor,  2O2 

Alexander,  228 

Alexandra,  205,  316,  412 

Alexeifl,  Vice-Admiral,  356 

Algerine.  87,  348 

Allen,  117 

Alton,  F.  C,  secretary,  345,  402 

Amadeus,  King,  170 

Amazon,  168,  169 

Amethyst,  2  17 

Amherst,  (>z 

Anson,  273,  274,  279,  29''>,  297, 

308 
Antelope,  103 
Anion,  Scftor  Emilio,  305 
Aoki,  Major,  360 
Arabi  Pacha,  222,  223 
Aragonoz,  119 
Arethusi,  13,  19 
Argyll,  403 
Armour,  Mr.,  276 


Arnim,  von,  iG| 

Arrow,  53 

Arthur,  87 

Arthur  of  Connaught,  I  I.R.I  I. 

Pripcc,  388,  390,  399 
Asia,  53 

Assheton  Smith,  117 
Atalanta,  204 
Atalante,  94 
Audacieuse,  62 
Aurora,  357 
Avenger,  216 


Bacchante,  205,  220 

Ball.  25 

Ball,  Sir  Alexander,  228 

liarflcttr,  357 

Bartolomd,      Lieutenant      dc, 

3"5 
Bate,  50 
Batoum,  206 

l^ayly.  Captain  E.  H.,  357 
Bcaconsfidd,  Lord,  190 
Bcatty,     Commander     DavitI, 

360 
Beaumont,  Admiral  Sir  Lewis, 

386 
Hello  Ponle,  if>9 
l^-nbow,  1 1 

Bcndcmami.  Vicc-Admiral.  362 
IkMcsford,  Lord  Charles,  325 
I3frnhardt,  Madame  Sarah,  288 
Bcrlie.  Col.  the  Men.  Reginald, 
355 


■t-J 


INDEX 


Bcyts,  Herbert  \V.  II.,  Captain 

K.M.A..  352 
Biddulph,  43 

liiddulph,  Sir  Robert,  237 
Bigham,    Captain    Clivc,    345, 

333 
Birkenhead,  175 
Black  Prince,  245 
Blackwood,  169 
Blake,  Sir  Henry,  326,  375 
Blake,  Lady,  326 
Blakiston,  95 
Bonavcyiiure,  329 
Borcl,  164 

Bower,  Colonel  Hamilton,   358 
Bowring,  54 

Boyd,  Captain  McNiel,  230 
Boyes,  Rear-Admiral,  299,  305 
Brampton,  200 
Bridge,  Admiral    Sir   Cyprian, 

291,  375 
Britannia,  12,  17 
Brooke,  Rajah,  338 
Brown,  Sir  George,  19 
Brown,  Ralph,  104 
Bruce,  Major,  358 
Bruce,  Mr.,  81 
Bruce,     Rear-Admiral    James, 

361 
Bruey,  Admiral,  238 
Buller,  Admiral,  321 
Burgevine,  log,  113 
Burke,  Captain  J.  H.  T.,  357 
Burton,  Sir  Richard,  215 
Burton,  Lady,  215 


Calcutta,  51,  52,  53,  58,  67,  69, 
78.89 

Callaghan,  Captain  G.  A.,  365 

Campbell,  Lord  Clyde,  37 

Campbell,  Mr.  C.  W.,  345 

Canrobert,  22,  37 

Captain,  412 

Caradoc,  39 

Carill-Worsley,  C.  N.  T.,  Flag- 
lieutenant,  384 

Carles,  Mr.  W.  R.,  Consul,  359 

Carranza.  Captain-General  Jose 
de,  305 


Centaur,  92 

Centurion,  352,   354,   371,  375, 

377 
Chang-Chi-Tung,   Viceroy,  325, 

369.  374 
Charrington,  Lieutenant,  223 
Chesapeake,  82,  85,  86,  91,  92, 

95.  187 
Childers,  Mr.,  10,  117,  172,  415 
Christina,  H.M.  Queen,  378 
Chulalonkorn,  H.M.  King,  336 
Cir cassia,  25 
Clanmorris,  Lord,  184 
Clarence,  H.R.H.  Duke  of,  402 
Clarke  79 
Clermont,  404 

Colenbrander,  Captain,  404 
CoUingwood,  Lord,  218 
Connaught,    H.R.H.   Duke   of, 

184,  378,  379,  381 
Conrad,     Admiral,     222,     242, 

260 
Constance,  102 
Constantine,  265 
Conway,  315 
Cooper  Coles,  412 
Cormorant,  64 

Coromandel,  54,  55,  59,  66,  92 
Courejolles,  Rear-Admiral,  362 
Cowper,  Mr.,  61 
Cowper,  90,  92,  95 
Creagh,  General  O'Moore,  V.C., 

364 
Cross,  Colonel,  179 
Cruizcr,  46,  47,  48,  92 
Culme-Seymour,  56,  242 


Dacres,  25 

Dalhanty,  87 

Davey,  104 

De  la  Fosse,  193 

Descartes,  13 

Devastation,  412 

Dew,  3,  90 

Dewey,  Admiral,  327,  38S 

Diadem,  390 

Dido,  King,  151 

Digby,  Captain,  248 

Discovery,  174 


424 


INDEX 


Dorward,  Brigadier-General  A. 

R-  F.,  355 
Douglas,  126 
Douglas,  Harold,  292 
Dowell,  i6r,  170 
Drake,  403 
Dreadnought ,  419 
Dryad,  6 

Dubasoflf,  Admiral,  330 
Duke  of  Edinburgh,  403 
Duke  of  IVellinglon,  9,  249,  252 
Dundas,  17,  34 

Eastman,  2 

Edison,  Mr.,  277 

Edlind,  Captain,  299 

Edward  VII,  II. M.  King.  381 

Egger,  Mr.,  292 

Elgin,  57,  59,  62,  66,  86,  90 

Elliot,  55 

Empress  of  India,  30S,  312,  313 

Empress  of  Japan,  395 

Encounter,  2,  3,  5,  7,  82,  90 

Endymion,  365 

Enterprise,  i},-j 

Erebus,  136,  137 

Etruria,  274,  278 

Euryalus,  169 

Eurydice,    90,    187,    188,    189, 

204,    205 
Evans,  do  Lacy,  166 
Excellent,  'j'j,  250 

Fair,  G.  M.  K.,  Lieutenant,  345 

Fairfax,  Vicc-Admiral,  297,  314 

Falcon,  215 

Fanshawc,  Sir  Arthur,  250 

Farquharson,  Mr.   W.,   285 

FcUowcs,  47 

Ferret,  2S5 

Firebrand,  16 

Fire  Queen,   117 

Fisher,  Captain,  225 

Fitton,  Lieutenant,  2S5 

Fitzroy,  Admiral,  296,  315 

Fix,  193 

Flora,  1 63 

Forester,  48 

Franklin,  Sir  John,  136,  137,  13S 


Frederick,  T.I.H.  Emperor  and 

Empress,  252 
Frederick  William,  14 1 
Frere,  Sir  Bartle,  1S5 
Froude,  Professor,  204 
Fukusima,  General,  355,  360 
Fulton.  Robert,  401 
Furious,  12,  13.  15.  16,  34.  62 
Fury,  15.  65 


Garibaldi.  122.  123 

Gaunt.  Lieutenant  Ernest,  323 

George,  H.R.II.  Prince,  220 

Giffard,  14 

Gifford,  Lord,  192 

Gilford,  55,  95 

Gill,  Captain.  223 

Gladstone.  Mr.,  210 

Glory.  371,  375 

Goodcnough,  55,  56,  58,  67,  89, 

90 
Gordon,  94.  114 
Goschen,  173 
Gough,  59 

Grand  Duke  of   Vladimir,  264 
Grant,  Sir  Hope,  86 
Gray,  127.  139 
Great  Britain.  179 
Green,  Lieutenant  J.,  366 
Grey,  Sir  Edward,  3S1 
Grey.  Earl  and  Countess,  399 
Gros,  Baron,  66.  90 
Growler,  145.  147,  148 
Guerrero,  105 


Half  Moon,  404 

Hall,  Captain  G.  D.  King.  322 

Hall,  Cajitain  W.  King,  55,  67 

Hamilton,  48,  57 

Hamilton,  Kcar-Admiral  F.  T.. 

403 
Hare,  90,  1S7 
Harford,  153,  268.  269 
Hauchty,  48,  57 
Hawk,  316 

Hay,  Drummond,  170 
Hay,  Lord  John,  190,  191,  228, 

229,  240 


4-25 


INDEX 


Hearty,  256 

Hcly  Hutchin<^on,  the  Hon.  Sir 
Walter  and  Lady,  283 

Henri  Qnatre,  33 

Henry,  H.l.H.  Prince  of  Prus- 
sia, 323,  334.  33f> 

Herbert,  2 

Hermione,  324 

Hertha,  352 

Highflyer,  57 

Hobson,  137 

Hong-Kong,  55,  56 

Hope,  Sir  James,  81,  82,  85, 
96,  108,  113 

Hornby,  Admiral,  166,^191,  245 

Hornet,  283 

Howe,  I.ord,  57 

Howe,  297,  298,  299,  302,  303, 

304.  307.  330 
Huddleston,  199 
Hudson,  Henry,  401 
Hunt,  Walter,    189 

Illustrious,  77 

Imperieuse,  81,  82,  84,  80,  95, 

108 
Impregnable,  386 
Inflexible,   224,   225,   226.   227, 

235.  239.  240,  244,  251,  252, 

402 
Inverclyde,  T.ord,  278 
Invincible,  221 
Iris,  204,  214,  224,  227 

Ja-Ja.  152,  153 
Jamsetjee  Jejeebhoy,  52 
Jasper,  267 

Jellicoe,  Captain,  343,  345,  349 
Johnson,  107 
Johnstone,   Major   J.   R.,    346, 

352 
Johore,   Maharajah  or,    182 
Joinville,  Prince  de,  170 
Jones,  31,  82 

Kelly-Kexxy,     General     Sir 

Thomas,  399 
Kelvin,  76 


Kcmpff,  Rear-Admiral,  362 

Kennedy,  6,  57 

Keppel,  50,  54,  55,  56,  381 

Kerr,  Lord  Walter,  386 

Key,  Cooper,  60,  173 

Keyes,  Roc;er,  Lieutenant,  343 

Keyser,  Mr.,  339 

King  Edward  VIT,  385 

Kingslcy,  283 

Kirby,  161 

Koester,  Admiral  von,  385,  403, 

406 
Kuper,  113 


La  Gaillissoniere,  222 

La  Gloire,  239,  411 

Laird  &  Co.,  179 

Lambton,   Captain    the    Hon, 

Hedworth,  358 
Laughton,  67 
Layrle,  Captain,  217 
Le  Boo,  103 

Lesseps,  de,  176,  222,  287 
Leven,  87 
Liardet,  186 
Liu-Kum-Yi.      Viceroy,      325, 

363.  374 
Lively,  165,  168 
Livingstone,  150,  155 
Loango,  156,  ts8 
Lobiniere,  S'r  Henry  Joly  de, 

397 
Lomen,  Captain,  223 
London,  206 
Lowther    Crofton,    Lieutenant 

E.  G.,  354,  402 
Lyons,    Sir    Edmund,    10,    19, 

25.  34.  35.  36 
Lyons,  Captain,  36 
Lytton,  Lord.  176,  177 


RL^.CARTNEY,  62 

Macaulay,  78,  190 
Macdonald,    Sir    Claude,    321, 

342,  343 
Macdonald,  Lady,  393 
Magellan,  107 
Mahan,  122,  321,  388 
426 


INDEX 


Manocl  Vacca,  155,  156,  160 

Manto,  Admiral,  270 

Maori,  293 

Mar  aval,  191 

Marco  Polo,  97 

Marengo,  217 

Markham,  Albert,  180 

Marlborough,  57,  253,  254 

MaroUes,  Capitaine,  353 

Marryat,  78 

Martin,  137 

Maxim,  Sir  Hiram,  250 

Mazinthien,  127 

McCalla,  Captain,  35G 

McCleverty,     Captain,    9,    53, 

310 
Mends,  13,  19,  49,  175 
Mersey,  76,  77,  78,  80,  82 
Meyer,  174 
Milne,  Sir  David,  10 
Milne,  Sir  Alexander,  174 
Miranda,  36 
Mogador,  13 
Monarch,  215,  221 
Mongolia,  390 
Monticucolli,    Admiral    Count, 

374 
Montmorency,  de,  186 
Moore,  Sir  John,  297 
Morgan,  Mr.  Pierpont.  406 
Morier,  Sir  Robert,  261 
Movica,  160,  162 
Mpinge  Nebacca,  156-157 


NaCHIMOFF,   II,  268 

Nancy,  284,  285 

Nankin,  72,  73 

Napier,    General    Sir    Charles, 

211,  212 
Napoleon,   74,    118,    135,   263, 

402 
Narea,  174,  180 
Nelson,    Lord,    116,    117,    122, 

168,  169,  254,  3S8 
Neville,  121 
Nicholas  I,  llie  Emperor,  223, 

263 
Nicholas  I,  392 
Nicholas,  Prince,  209 


Nicholson,  Lieutenant  Douglas, 

305,  402 
Nicolson,  Sir  Frederick,  70 
Nieh,  General,  344,  348,  352 
Nordenfclt,  252 
Noma,  102,  104,  107 


Oko  Jumbo,  153 
Oleviera,  156,  lOo 
Olympic,  243 
Orde,  169 

Oregon,  242,  243,  244,  245,  247 
Orient,  228 
Orinoco,  282 
Orlando.  357,  359 
Orontes,  174,  175,  181,  197 
Osborne,  E.  O.  B.  S.,  midship- 
man, 345 


Paley,  132 

Palmer,  Professor,  223 

Parker,  169 

Parkcs,  53,  60 

Pearl,  58 

Peel.  57,  58 

Pelissier,  35,  37,  39 

Peppel,  152,  153 

Pigmy,  3O6 

Pioneer,  102,  103 

Pique,  67,  69.   70,   71,   72,   75, 

78,  161,  186,  375 
Pitt,  the  lion.  James,  283 
Polyphemus.  24O 
Popoffkn,  271 
Pord,  Admiral  Lc.  403 
Poulctt,  120 

Powlctt,  Arraand,  31,  35,  284 
Powlctt,     F.     A..       Flag-licu- 

tcnant,  345,  402 
Prince,  33.  384 
Prince  Consort,  the,  loS 
Prince  of  Wales.  123.  177 
Prince  and   Princess  of  Wales, 

T.K.H.,  385 
Princess  CharlotU,  loi 
Protet,  1 10 


427 


INDEX 


Queen.  45 


Raglan.  35,  39 

Raleigh.  50,  54,  55,  58 

Rattlesnake,  161 

Reade,  Consul  General,  216 

Redcsdale,  391,  394 

Rcid,  Major-General  Alexander, 

373 
Retribution,  13 
Rice,  Mr.  J.,  302 
Richelieu,  Admiral  de,  336 
Roberts,  94 
Robinson,  125 
Rodney,  297 
Rolland,  55 
Roman,  163 
Ross,  Sir  James,  136 
Roustem  Pasha,  218 
Royal  Sovereign,  297,  308 


Sakaa,  221 

Salvador,  the  Archduke  Lewis, 

309 
Sampson,  13,  24,  30,  82 
Sandpiper,  340 
Sans  Pareil,  25,  290 
Sarel,  95 

Schroeder, Rear- Admiral  S.,  403 
Scoresby,  129 
Scott,  Lord  Charles,  220,  383, 

386 
Scott,  Captain  Percy,  358 
Scout,  143 
Seahorse,  303 

Selborne,  Earl  of,  376,  377 
SemphiU,  Lieutenant  the  Hon. 

Arthur  Forbes,  340 
Serapis,  177 
Serpent,  305,  306 
Seymour,     Sir    Michael     (died 

1887),  46.  52,   54,  67,  115 
Seymour,    Sir    Michael     (died 

1S34),  40.  57.  217 
Seymour,  Sir  Beauchamp  (Lord 

Alcester),  205,  208,  221,  224 
Seymour,  Richard  (Lieutenant), 

168 


428 


Shaguin,  Captain,  356 
Shannon,  57 
Shaw,  i8r,  182 
Shcrinsky,  Colonel,  353 
Sherman,  General,  390 
Sherman,  Vice-President,  403 
Sherwin,  96,  98 
Sir  Charles  Forbes,  55,  95 
Slaney,  64 

Slceman,  Lieutenant,  207 
Smith,  Lady,  123 
Smith,  General  Sir  Harry,  123 
Smith  Dorrien,  Captain  A.,  328 
Smith,  Mr.  R.  A.  C.  406 
Sparrow,  284 
Spartiate,  49 

Spencer    Smith,    Captain    Sey- 
mour, 285 
Sphinx,  102,  103,  108 
Sprightly,  117 
Staunch,  48 
Staveley,  112 
Stephens,  141 
Stephenson,  174 
Stewart,  Commander     R.     H., 

348 
Stirhng,  Captain  F.,  204 
Stossel,  General,  355 
St.  Arnaud,  22 
St.  Vincent,  Lord,  253,  254 
Sundius,  Mr.,  364 
Swift  sure,  295 
Sybille,  55 
Symonds,  69 


Taft,  President,  403 

TSmiraire,  233 

Terrible,   8,   9,    13,   23,   24,   89, 

284.  310,  357 
Terror,  136,  137 
Thackeray,  11 
Th6tis,  49,  217 
Thunderer,  196 
Tiger,  13,  14,  15,  16,  271 
Todleben,  23,  36,  123,  265,  268 
Togo,  Admiral,  321,  392,  393 
Tolstoy,  17,  269 
Torlesse,  Captain  H.  H.,  402 
Tracey,  Admiral,  273,  279 


INDEX 


Trent,  io8 

Tribune,  24 
Tryon,  George,  209 
Twelve  Apostles,  272 
Tyne,  119 

UsEDOM,  Captain  von,  349 

Valorous,  34,  36 

Van  Straubcnzic,  59 

Vaiiban,  13 

Vesuvius,  16 

Victoria,  291,  30S 

Victoria  and  Albert,  9,  123,  37S 

Victorian,  400 

Victory,  117,  122,  240,  2.|9,  250 

Vigilant,  165 

Ville  de  Paris,  254 

Vladimir,  34 


Wagstaffe,  Mr.,  267 
Walcot,  IT9 
Waldersec, 
Count,  365 
Ward,  108 
Warrior,  245 
Washington,  310 
Washington  Irving,   105 
Waterman,  95,  100,  loi 


Field-Marshal 


Watson,  Lieutenant  Hugh,  334 
Webb,  Captain,  277 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  379 
Weinyss,    Lieutenant    l^osslvii, 

312 
Wcstphal,  121 
Whcaton,  310 
Whitehead,  232 
Willcs,  Sir  George,  24S,  252 
Wilson,  Sir  Arthur,  58,  319 
Windham,  Commander  Charles, 

302 
Windtz,  Mr.  dc,  333 
Wolfe,  Ciencral,  400 
Wolseley,  Sir  Garnet,  190,  191, 

192,  224 
Wood,  133 

Wood,  Maj  )r  W.,  399 
Woodcock,  334 
Worcester,  315,  393 
Wright,  Lieutenant  P.  N.,  359 

Xavier,  02 

Yeii,  53.  60,  61 
Yuan-shi-k.ii,  N'iccroy,  358 

Zabiaka.  223 
Zarn^ozanna.  i  10 
Zatzarcnny,  207 


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